Initiative

Breast Cancer Screening Now on Wheels

In an attempt to create awareness about breast cancer in public and to provide affordable and people-friendly mammography facility, Helping Hand, an NGO, has initiated mobile mammography screening van for the first time in Mumbai.

Through this facility, Helping Hand will reach out to more women, creating an awareness about breast cancer and also encourage them to get a mammography screening done regularly. The test is meant for women who are above the age of 40 as they happen to fall in the high risk category. The mobile van is equipped with a mammography X-ray machine, an examination table and changing rooms, enabling them to see around 30 women a day. The unit provides comfort, complete privacy and confidentiality to the patient.

Registration for the check-ups are managed through various breast cancer awareness camps organised in different parts of the city. To register, people can also call up on the phone numbers dedicated for this purpose: 9323932532, 09224618318 and 09224615393.

With this facility, women can be screened at their door steps in 10 minutes rather than going to a hospital and waiting hours or even days for a mammography. Reports of the mammography will be delivered to each woman directly by post within two weeks.

Geeta S Advani, Managing Trustee and Founder Member, Helping Hand, said, "The objective of the mobile mammography van is to not only encourage women to get tested with ease but also create an awareness about breast cancer and establish the importance of getting tested on a regular basis. Time-tested screening methods help in detection of breast cancer at an early stage and treat it before it has the chance to spread."

EH News Bureau