A web portal to streamline cancer diagnostic screening in selected population at risk or suspected of having cancer was released by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here on Tuesday.
The Cancer Screening Portal, which will help in early community level detection of cancer as envisaged in the Kerala Cancer Control Programme, has been designed by the e-health wing of the Health Department.
The Cancer Screening Portal has been designed as a follow-up to a population-level screening program for detection of lifestyle diseases, an initiative of the Department of Health, under which all persons above 30 years of age are screened for lifestyle diseases. Under preliminary investigation. Screening is being done by trained ASHA workers using Shayli App during home visits.
The ongoing program has so far conducted preliminary screening of over 37 lakh persons above the age of 30 years, of which 2.40 lakh are required to be subjected to clinical screening for cancer based on their risk profile.
The Health Department has made arrangements for clinical screening (examination by a doctor/surgeon) of these at-risk individuals at Family Health Centers and Community Health Centers. On certain days in a week, individuals who are suspected to be at risk of breast cancer must undergo a clinical examination of the breast; People who are suspected of having pre-cancerous lesions in the mouth will have a clinical oral exam, while those at risk for cervical cancer will undergo a Pap smear exam.
After the clinical examination, those who require a biopsy or FNAC (Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology) will be referred to taluk hospitals, which will have facilities for sample collection. The collected samples will be sent to district laboratories for diagnosis and the results will be made available through LabSys portal
People who are given a definitive diagnosis of cancer will be offered treatment at any hospital that is part of the Kerala Cancer Care Grid, a network of cancer treatment hospitals in the state.
The new screening portal will help streamline all these activities so that every case of suspected cancer detected in the community undergoes a process of definitive laboratory diagnosis and appropriate treatment and does not disappear for follow-up, as is the case.
Health Minister Veena George, Principal Secretary (Health) Tinku Biswal, Project Director of e-Health, Mohd. Y. Safirullah and State Mission Director of the National Health Mission S. Karthikeyan were present.