{"id":807201,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/807201/?format=json","text_counter":162,"type":"other","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"We must take this opportunity to talk about cancer. The way we are approaching cancer as a country is extremely expensive. We are going for big machines, expensive treatment and we are travelling out of the country. Whereas that is important in the final stages, it is possible and we can do it if early screening is done. A lot of cancers are treatable if picked early and the treatment services are not complex. Some can be done in health centers. Cervical cancer and cancer of the breast in women can be picked extremely early and even at healthcare centers. When I was in the Ministry of Health we had started some of these programmes. I think they should be taken up. I must say and I am saying this to my colleagues who are here, we have the facility and when I talk to some of us during tea time, we take the issue of screening for cancer rather lightly but I think it is something those of us who are able or at least while we are here need to get screened once every year. It will save us the loss; it will save this country money and will stop many of us from going to India. As leaders, we should start talking very loudly about screening of cancer. People should know. Everybody thinks that if you get cancer you are dead and this is a fatalistic attitude. We must start with early screening as the main push for cancer management."}