T.N. Health Department takes cancer screening to women at their workplace

The Health Department had rolled out the community-based cancer screening programmes in four districts of Erode, Ranipet, Kanniyakumari and Tirupattur in November 2023. File photograph
| Photo Credit: GOVARTHAN M

At a time when Tamil Nadu is taking ahead its community-based organised cancer screening programme, the Directorate of Public Health (DPH) and Preventive Medicine is taking steps to combat challenges in reaching out to women aged 30 and above. It has started to reach out to women at their workplaces, including MGNREGA sites, even while health staff are finding it increasingly difficult to access women residing in apartment complexes.

The Health Department, which had rolled out the community-based cancer screening programmes in four districts of Erode, Ranipet, Kanniyakumari and Tirupattur in November 2023, will be expanding the initiative to the rest of the State soon. Under the initiative, women aged 30 and above are screened for breast and cervical cancer, while oral cancer screening is done for all above the age of 18. In door-to-door visits, health staff “invite” women to come to the screening units.

“In the working sector, the number of women turning up for screening remains low. One of their biggest worries is losing their wages for the day. So, we are reaching out to them at their workplaces that include MGNREGA sites. We also reach out during Self-Help Group meetings, markets, local festivals and some religious gatherings. We have given options to local healthcare staff units to plan their screening programmes according to the situation,” T. S. Selvavinayagam, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine said.

While this is a key challenge, most women in middle and upper income groups remain inaccessible, he said, adding, “Physical access to places such as apartments remain difficult for our health staff.”

Faced with such challenges, the Directorate has been urging women aged 30 and above to get themselves screened once a year for breast and cervical cancers. “Whether a woman has symptoms or not, it is advisable to undergo screening. There is no need for fear. For cervical cancer screening, it is a simple painless test – Visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) – that takes less than 10 minutes,” he said. While VIA is done in government facilities, some private facilities do Pap smear tests and HPV DNA testing as well.

What is most needed, say doctors, is behavioural change: health-seeking behaviour in women must change and they should come forward for screening, they said.