Mammography Machine

Screening is a systematic evaluation of a 'normal' individual to see if there is any underlying cancer. A 'normal' individual implies one who does not have any symptoms or signs of cancer. One must understand that, before a lump becomes sizeable, it may not be felt. By the time a lump in the breast becomes 'palpable' or can be felt, it usually will have reached a size of a few cm or more, and that will be a minimum stage 2 cancer, if not more. As the size of a 'tumour' increases, its potential to spread elsewhere also increases, and also affects the patient's survival. So our aim is to catch the cancer before it is even felt as a lump, when it is very small; in other words, to detect it while it is in stage 1. A patient has the best chance of long survival if the cancer is detected in the first stage.

In June 2016, on direction of P.M.O. the Ministry for Health & Family Welfare had released guidelines for prevention, control and population level screening of common cancer viz. breast, oral and cervical cancer. The Hon’ble minister issued Operational Framework for management of Common Cancer, also urging states to take up the issue of cancer prevention, screening and treatment as a crusade and to use the framework to create the mechanisms needed to provide effective screening, care and treatment to all. This was subsequently reiterated by the Secretary of National Health Mission,the Director General of Health Services (MoHFW) and the Managing Director of National Health Mission.