Hundreds of slum dwellers turn up for medical camp
Oct 17, 2016
Speaking during the medical camp, the project manager IMF –touch Namuwongo project Ruth Nalunga said that they have come out to help the slum dwellers because majority of them cannot afford the cost of breast cancer screening and treatment for other ailments.
Hundreds of slum dwellers in Namuwongo and neighbouring areas have embraced free medical services, including breast cancer screening, malaria treatment, tuberculosis diagnosis, HIV/AIDs counselling and testing among others.
The medical camp mainly focused on breast cancer screening being that October is cancer awareness month. The camp which was organised by International hospital, in partnership with International medical Foundation (IMF) and Fresh dairy offered free treatment to over 500 residents.
Speaking during the medical camp, the project manager IMF -touch Namuwongo project Ruth Nalunga said that they have come out to help the slum dwellers because majority of them cannot afford the cost of breast cancer screening and treatment for other ailments.
'This is a cancer awareness month we want women to use this opportunity to screen since most of them cannot afford the cost of breast cancer screening in hospitals,' Nalunga said.
She said in a private health facilities, the cost of a Mammograms used to check breast cancer can go up to sh120, 000 and sh150, 000.
Breast cancer is a kind of cancer that develops from breast cells. It originates in the breast tissue when the cells are growing out of control.
Based on the data from Uganda cancer Institute breast cancer stands between 25 % and 30 %.
Symptoms of breast cancer
Monica Namwebya a midwife at IHK said some of the symptoms of breast cancer include a lump in the breast, change in the size, shape or contour of the breast and blood stained discharge from the nipple among others.
She appealed to women and girls to go for early screening adding that if cancer is detected early it cures.
The health educator at Uganda Cancer Institute Alfred Jatho recent said the survival rate of breast cancer depends on the stage of diagnoses saying that most people who are diagnosed with breast cancer in stage one or two have high chances of survival, if they are started on treatment.
What do beneficiaries say
Teddy Anyango 56, this is an opportunity for many of us, because majority of residents in Namuwongo are low income earners therefore they cannot afford the cost of breast cancer screening in hospitals. It is my forth time to screen. I do not take health for granted.
Deborah Namiiro 38, I commend IMC for giving us this opportunity. Even if I screened for breast cancer twice, whenever there is another chance I screen again. In my family I have never seen anyone suffering from the disease.