Of the 779 Madeirans who participated in colorectal cancer screening, approximately 25% of those tested were found to have cancer.
The news was released this morning by the Regional Secretary for Health and Civil Protection, Pedro Ramos, who was visiting the São Roque Health Centre, which is one of the screening centres.
In an interview, Pedro Ramso stated that colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of death in the region and throughout the country, with between 150 and 200 new cases per year, numbers that are following an upward trend.
“People are more aware and resort more to the possibility of screening, analysis, and colonoscopy and, naturally, increasing the accuracy of the diagnosis, also increases the number of diagnosed cases. But as they are being diagnosed early, mortality decreases,” Pedro Ramos warned, who then went on to launch an appeal to the population to attend screenings when called forward.
“This is the importance of screening, a preventive measure to combat certain diseases, which prove fatal unless diagnosed and treated early.
In this regard, Pedro Ramos recalled that there are already five population-based screenings available in Madeira, each of which has age requirements:
Breast Cancer – women aged 45 and over.
Colorectal Cancer – Men aged between 50 and 74.
Cervical Cancer – Women aged between 25 and 60.
Children’s Visual Acuity – from the age of 12.
Diabetic retinopathy – no age given.
To provide adequate information in the screening process the region will soon have an oncology screening call centre. This call centre will be created to help answer any queries or worries that the population have about the different cancer screenings.
At the moment screening appointments are made by telephone, e-mail and letter, however, the Regional Secretary believes that new technological formats are more efficient. Which is great, unless you cannot use technology or have reading difficulties.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
