It was just another day for 43-year-old south Delhi resident, Meenu Kapoor,
when she visited her neighbourhood gurudwara. She, however, came out of the
gurudwara knowing that she was free from a dreaded disease. She was one of
the 24 women who underwent a free mammogram that day.
Roko Cancer, an initiative that aims to take breast cancer awareness to the
masses free of cost, had organised the camp. The initiative, which began in
2005, is managed by a London-based NGO, MKC Trust. The trust is a partner
with the UK-based Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research, which is committed to
fighting the disease through research and awareness.
"Our main focus is creating awareness about breast cancer and detection. We
have covered nine districts in Punjab. We also went to Uttar Pradesh for a
month. We have covered 400 villages and organised 30 camps. We taught health
workers in the interiors the physical tests to detect any lump," said Isha
Bhandari, director (India Operations), Roko Cancer.
"We are now planning camps in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra," she said.
Campaigns are planned in girls' colleges too. State-of-the-art mobile cancer
detection units are used in the camps. The capital cost of a cancer
detection unit is around Rs 1.5 crore. The cost of organising around 25
camps comes to around Rs 6 lakh. The mobile cancer detection unit comprises
basic facilities like mammogram units, laboratory, and an examination
chamber.
Till date, the organisation has organised 317 camps, examined 15,388 women
and 163 of these have been found positive for the disease.
Roko Cancer organises these camps in Delhi with the help of Delhi Sikh
Gurudwara management Committee. Its partners include TCL and Dr Reddy's
Laboratories.
The organisation, however, faces problems in referrals of the positive cases
and funding.
"We face problems in referring the positive cases. We have now got a
commitment from the Delhi government to help us organise camps in the
government hospital premises. The government has also assured to make
arrangements for treatment to those found positive," said Isha.
"We need more participation from the corporations," she added.
Emphasising the need to address the situation fast, Jeremy Hughes, CEO,
Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research, said corporations could be very helpful
as they have a large women workforce as well.
"They should come forward as it is mutually beneficial," he added.
