Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/224217
News maltatoday, Sunday, 8 December 2013 Women still shy away from free cancer screening Daniel Mizzi Data presented in the House of Representatives has revealed a staggering 42% of women invited for a national breast-screening programme over the last 10 months, did not attend the invitation for a mammogram. Joe Psaila, surgeon and senior advisor at the Breast Screening Programme, said that a culture-change was "crucial" offset these figures. Although steadily increasing, participation in the screening programme still shows that up to 40% of women stay back from attending the invitation for a mammogram. The first ten months of the year reporting a 58.7% attendance. In 2012, this figure stood at 62.8% while in 2011 and 2010 the average number of attendees was 57.8% and 59.4% respectively. "Women are discouraged from attending the government-funded breast-feeding programmes out of fear that the tests would reveal breast cancer and due to their worries on the possible financial constraints such a programme would incur," Psaila said. Earlier this week, in response to a parliamentary question by Opposition health spokesperson Claudio Grech, health minister Godfrey Farrugia revealed that between Oc- tober 2012 and February 2013, out of 48,841 Maltese women born between 1950 and 1959 invited for a mammogram, 27,635 or 57% of the women actually attended the programme. 200 women were found to be suffering from breast cancer. Psaila however said he was upbeat with the figures of the attendees, and insisted that the figures are "very healthy in a health industry polarised by public and private treatments. "Despite the discrepancy, the statistics present a sound picture of the increased breast awareness in Malta." Nevertheless, he said, a change in the attitude of society and its culture is needed to offset the discrepancy. "Many women fail to attend out of fear that the mammograms would reveal breast cancer. Moreover, there is a strong perception amongst Maltese that sees doctors and health treatments as a last resort rather than as a means of prevention." The surgeon underlined the need for women to see prevention as better than cure, and insisted that all Maltese persons should refrain from seeing health professionals as a last resort or upon contracting an illness. Psaila also stressed that women tend to be put off by the financial constraints that a breast-screening programme can incur, a perception which according to the surgeon is hampering the country's work to increase awareness. "I cannot stress enough that at the point of delivery, the treatment is free of charge. The government is funding the treatments out of the country's coffers and consequently, it is fundamental for women to be aware that any breast screening programme would set them back financially." Turning his attention on the government's role in the breastscreening programme and awareness, Psaila said state-funded mammograms are also a cost-saving measure. The second cycle of breast screening of women born between 1960 and 1962 has commenced, while there are plans to invite back those women aged between 60 and 63-years-old.