MULTAN-The Cancer Society Multan (CSM) stressed the need for bringing in changes in syllabus of MBBS, urged the government to include cancer education for early diagnosis and timely treatment of the deadly disease.
The inclusion of cancer education in syllabus would also help eradicating quackery. Quackery was also a big reason behind fast spread of cancer in our society. Cancer physicians would be capable of treating cancer patients at early stage, stated a press release issued by Cancer Society Multan.
World Cancer Day is being observed on February 4 every year and awareness sessions are conducted to sensitize the people about the disease. In Pakistan, the cancer was spreading at a fast pace. According to an estimate, 150,000 persons were falling prey to cancer annually. Only 65000 persons avail treatment facility from recognized medical practitioners. However, the remaining patients visit quacks due to lack of proper awareness, said renowned Oncologist Dr Ejaz Masood. One of the main reason behind cancer was smoking, however Hubble-Bubble (Huqqa), Betal, Gutka etc were also causing cancer.
He said, in our country, lungs cancer was at top and it was due to smoking. Breast cancer was at second while Liver cancer was at number third. Our citizens were not paying care on healthy foods as the use of substandard cooking oil is common in hotels and other food points. Similarly, pesticide spray on vegetables was also another common reason of cancer, he observed. He suggested that women should visit doctors regularly for general check up as it would help treating breast cancer at an early stage. Dr Ejaz Masood informed that Cancer Society Multan has decided to mark the Year 2019 as “Do More For Cancer”.
He informed that CSM was working against cancer since 1995. The Society was working on research in collaboration with Pakistan Society of Clinical Oncology and Oncology Department of Nishtar Hospital.
About liver cancer, Dr Ejaz informed that liver cancer was at number 11 in terms of number of patients in 1982. Now, the number of patients with liver cancer was increasing and remains at number three in the country.
The main reason behind liver cancer was Hepatitis B and C.