IPOH, March 6 — The Perak government has allocated RM890,000 for 4,000 free mammogram and pap smear tests for women in the state from March to December this year.
State Social Welfare, Women Development, Family and Welfare committee chairman Wong May Ing said it would be implemented through the state’s National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN) at Nur Sejahtera Clinics.
“Registration and eligibility screening services will be provided at six Nur Sejahtera Clinics in Ipoh, Kuala Kangsar, Taiping, Parit Buntar, Seri Manjung and Tanjung Malim as well as at LPPKN panel mammogram centres.
“We are also expanding this free screening (mammogram) to Pantai Hospital Ipoh, KPJ Ipoh Hospital, BP Lab Jalan Kampar, Ipoh and Anson Bay Medical Centre in Teluk Intan,” she told a press conference here today.
She said the programme targetted women born and residing in Perak, must be Malaysian citizens, aged 40 to 70 years, women with high risk of developing breast cancer or recurrent mammograms and those from households earning less than RM10,000 per month.
Wong said since the introduction of the subsidised mammogram screening in 2007, a total of 28,876 women in Perak had undergone screening and out of that, 117 were diagnosed with breast cancer.
Source : BERNAMA