Goa govt launches initiative for free breast cancer screening for 1 lakh women

Panaji (Goa) [India], October 27 : Under the initiative 'Swasth Mahila, Swasth Goa', launched by international cricketing icon and humanitarian Yuvraj Singh's YouWeCan Foundation in partnership with SBI foundation, state government, free breast cancer screening will be done for 1 lakh women in Goa, thereby ensuring that 50 per cent of the age-eligible female population in the state is screened.
Funded by the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance and with SBI Foundation, under this initiative, free breast cancer screening using 'iBreast' devices will be done for 1 lakh women in Goa over a period of two years. free treatment will be provided for all positive cases with the support of the Government of Goa, added the press release.
The initiative was launched today at Goa Medical College and Hospital by Vishwajit P. Rane, Minister of Health, Women and Child Development. Rane said, "This initiative is something I have been pushing for a very long time. During one of my visits to New York, I met Mihir Shah, Founder of UE Life Sciences, and we had a very long chat on taking forward this initiative with this support".
"I thank the YouWeCan foundation and SBI Foundation for putting this initiative for us where we will be screening 1,00,000 women for breast cancer. Initially, we had aimed to screen 20,000 women, but it sounded unacceptable to me as it will hardly have any impact," he added.
Regarding this initiative, Yuvraj Singh said, "Having fought through cancer myself, I firmly believe that this disease can be cured if it is detected early and given the correct treatment. And this is our mission with the 'Swasth Mahila, Swasth Goa' initiative. Women are the backbone of our society and we are committed to making every effort for their health and wellbeing."
Under this initiative, breast cancer screening will be conducted at 35 Health Centres across Goa along with multiple outreach camps. 20 iBreast devices will be deployed for the project - 10 in North Goa and 10 in South Goa.
All the suspected cases will be referred to the Goa Medical College and Hospital and district hospitals for further investigations as well as complete treatment. Moreover, YouWeCan Foundation's project team will facilitate training and capacity building of the Government's health workers and auxiliary nurse midwives to screen for breast cancer using iBreast device. Training will also be conducted for Counsellors and IEC officers on how to counsel the suspected cases.
iBreast Exam (iBE), which will be used for screening under the 'Swasth Mahila, Swasth Goa' initiative, is a non-invasive, hand-held, fully wireless mHealth point-of-care solution for breast lesion detection. In clinical studies, iBE has shown high sensitivity and specificity to detect non-palpable lesions at an early stage. Regarding their association with this initiative
The initiative was launched today at Goa Medical College and Hospital by Vishwajit P. Rane, Minister of Health, Women and Child Development, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Industries, Trade AND Commerce, Government of Goa.