Doha, Qatar – 5 June, 2016: Under the Patronage of HE Dr. Hanan Mohammad Al-Kuwari, Minister of Public Health, Dr. Mariam Ali Abdulmalik, Managing Director of PHCC launched the first Mobile Mammogram Screening Unit in Qatar. With the launch of this Mobile Unit PHCC took a vital and significant leap forward in promoting Breast and Bowel Cancer Screening awareness.
The Mobile Unit will initially focus on offering Mammography with a view to extending it to other services. It is programmed to visit the various Health Centers as per a pre-determined schedule with the first stop to be the Abu Baker Health Center.
“The Mobile Screening Unit is a major development for PHCC as part of the fight against cancer in Qatar. It offers a new concept in primary healthcare as breast screening is an essential part of the Breast and Bowel Screening Program which complies with the recommendations of the National Cancer Program,” said Mariam Ali Abdulmalik, M.D., Managing Director of PHCC.
“Our target was to open three centers by Q2 of 2016 and we are delighted to have achieved our goal. In January we opened Al Wakra Breast & Bowel Screening Center followed by Leabaib Breast & Bowel Screening Center in March and now the Mobile Screening Unit. This will soon be followed by a 4th Center located in Rawdat Al Khail. We are very much on course to achieving our plans and are extremely proud of it,” Dr. Abdulmalik added.
The Mobile Unit is manned by highly skilled healthcare professionals trained to efficiently operate the facility’s state-of-the-art equipment. Screening will be conducted in the utmost privacy by a female radiologist and trained nurses who will provide vital information and responses to all questions from patients about the examination process. Appointments for Screening in the Mobile Unit can be made by calling our Cancer Screening Call Center on 8001112 in advance.
Through these initiatives PHCC gives people a deeper understanding of the value of early screening which can lead to detection and timely treatment. The Unit will also act as a vehicle to create awareness in public places and strengthen PHCC’s marketing efforts at events and other initiatives.
‘Screen for Life’ was created to save precious lives by encouraging women aged 45 years or older with no symptoms to receive breast cancer screening through mammography. The campaign also calls on both men and women aged 50 years or older with no symptoms to receive bowel cancer screening through FIT (Fecal Immunochemical Test). The Ministry of Public Health recommends breast cancer screening every three years and bowel cancer screening every year. Both Mammogram and FIT are generally considered safe, quick and relatively painless.
