By the year end, India could have the world’s largest cancer screening programme. The Central government is planning to formulate national screening guidelines for throat, breast and cervical cancers.
A meeting of senior officials of the health ministry and 15 doctors from across the country saw constitution of three-member steering committees for each of the cancers. The committees will formulate screening guidelines and guide the government on implementing them.
City-based breast surgeon P. Raghuram, who has been appointed on the steering committee for breast cancer, said there was unanimity in choosing Clinical Breast Examination (CBE) as the choice of screening method in India. The foundation has screened 200,000 women in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to detect palpable cancers. It is now training healthcare workers in Andhra Pradesh to carry out CBE in order to extend the reach of the programme to all women aged 40 and above in AP.