Zim govt to cut breast cancer screening costs

Zimbabwe government will try to cut the costs of breast cancer screening to a bare minimum and shall work towards the goal of eventually making the screening programme available to the generality of Zimbabweans free of charge in the long run, Vice President Joice Mujuru has said.

VP Mujuru said this yesterday at the launch of the breast cancer clinic and state-of-the-art mammographic screening equipment at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, coinciding with breast-cancer awareness month, which falls in October. VP Mujuru said the sorrowful state of a Zimbabwean woman with a foul-smelling, painful, ulcerating breast is heart-rending and Government must vigorously try to eradicate such scenarios.

"To enable the programme to succeed, Government shall endeavour to cut the costs of breast cancer screening to a bare minimum and shall work towards the goal of eventually making the screening programme available to the generality of our people, free of charge, once our economy improves to the extent of sustaining such mammoth, yet essential task.

"Our resources must be used wisely and that includes being used to sustain high standards of healthcare for all our people. To this end, radiotherapy facilities and chemotherapy drugs must be availed at affordable prices, otherwise the benefits of early detection of breast cancer will not be realised," she said.

She said efforts will be made to avail all essential facilities to enable effective treatment for those found to have breast cancer.
"This includes upgrading of our pathology services, radiotherapy and chemotherapy facilities which are an essential component of a holistic approach to the breast cancer problem in this country," she said.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and statistics show that an estimated one in eight women will have breast cancer in their lifetime. Breast cancer is the second commonest cancer affecting women in Zimbabwe.

Regrettably, too many of them may not know they have it until it's late which is why early detection can be the difference between life and death.

Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals chief executive officer Mr Thomas Zigora said the mammography unit is inadequate to set up a national breast cancer screening programme, which is what the country needs.

"For an effective breast cancer control strategy to be put in place, mammography should be made available to all Zimbabwean women above the age of 40 years," he said.

Mr Zigora said there is currently a serious shortage of chemotherapy drugs in public institutions, due to limited availability of funds.

"Cancer management needs a multi-disciplinary approach and, with the expertise available, the dedicated and hardworking professionals at Parirenyatwa Hospital have the capacity, if adequately resourced, to make travel abroad, for cancer treatment, a thing of the past," he said.

Chairman of the Organising Committee and Specialist Consultant Surgeon Dr Edwin Muguti said mammographic breast cancer screening is the safest and most cost effective way of detecting breast cancer early - at stages amenable to cure.

"Its use, safety and efficacy is established the world over such that Zimbabwe's public health system was lagging behind without this facility," he said.