(Oct. 04, 2011) October is breast cancer awareness month in Sri Lanka and throughout
the month women will be able to visit clinics for free tests. In its campaign, the
Health Ministry is urging women to take advantage of this opportunity, advising them
to have a check-up at least once a year. Official figures indicate that about 500
women die of breast cancer every year. “We have planned several activities during
the month of October to educate women in the country on issue of breast cancer,”
said Health Ministry’s spokesman W.M.D. Wanninayake. “Early detection could prevent
breast cancer,”he explained. "We have set up 700 women’s clinics in the country’s
government hospitals, which are well equipped and do all the tests free of charge,”
he added. According to the Health Ministry, most women in Sri Lanka do not visit
clinics and because of that, they cannot identify the disease, until it grows to the
unpreventable level. He said the most vulnerable group is women between 35 and 40
years