Breast cancer patients' awareness on hospital treatment still low - Exco

Members of the public being briefed about breast cancer. (Filepix)

SEREMBAN, Oct 11 -- The awareness level of breast cancer patients to obtain treatment at the hospital is still low as many are more interested in alternative treatment.

State Health, Environment, Cooperatives and Consumerism Committee chairman S. Veerapan said it was one of the reasons why a patient did not receive early treatment and some of them had advanced stage of cancer when diagnosed.

“I understand that breast cancer cases have increased by 20 per cent in 2018 compared to previous years as recorded at the Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital (HTJ), where most patients are diagnosed with late stage of cancer.

“There are also other factors that are causing patients for not getting early treatment, including family support, financial and logistics factors,” he said when officiating the Pink Ribbon Centre here today.

Also present were Health Ministry’s general surgical services head Datuk Seri Dr Mohamed Yusof Abdul Wahab, state health director Datuk Dr Zainudin Mohd Ali and HTJ director Dr Jazari Jamaludin.

Therefore, Veerapan said the public's awareness of early treatment and screening needs to be further enhanced.

The Pink Ribbon Centre which began its operation on Feb 5 last year, has thus far treated more than 284 patients, as of July this year.

-- BERNAMA