Vijayawada: Health minister Y Satya Kumar Yadav informed on Tuesday that the medical and health department screened a total of 39 lakh people for various cancers under cancer screening tests being conducted free of cost under the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) programme in the state. Women are being screened for oral, cervical, and breast cancers, while men are being screened for oral cancer under the NCD programme in the state.Of those screened, a total of 9,963 women showed symptoms of breast cancer and 22,861 showed symptoms of cervical cancer. Meanwhile, 26,639 men with suspected symptoms of oral cancer were identified in the state, the health minister said on Tuesday.On the occasion, the health minister stated that individuals with suspected cancer symptoms will undergo another battery of medical tests at PHCs. Individuals who require treatment support will be shifted to teaching hospitals, where oncologists will conduct necessary tests to confirm the cancer disease and commence treatment accordingly.The health Minister explained that an OP room with the number ‘222′ has been specially allocated in the teaching hospitals to provide medical care to cancer patients in the state. The minister further added that steps will be taken to complete the screening of the remaining population in the next six months.
