Tribune Chandigarh

Saturday, April 8, 2006, Chandigarh, India

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‘Roko Cancer’, a boon for Punjab women Naveen S Garewal Chandigarh, April 7 Started less than four months ago as an initiative to spread awareness about breast cancer, the 'Roko Cancer' campaign has turned into a movement in the border areas of Punjab where over 500 women have been screened for the killer disease that claims over 50,000 lives in India each year. Started in December last year from Amritsar, India's first fully- equipped mobile breast Mobile Breast Cancer detection unit of UKcancer detection unit run by the U.K- based based MKC Trust. MKC Trust will now make its presence felt across the state, educating women and helping them with early detection and eradication. It has been conceived by Mr. A.S Chawla, a U.K-based NRI, who lost his first wife, Manjit Kaur, to breast cancer when she was 43. Mr Chawla then decided to fight the disease by empowering women with knowledge. The MKC Trust is named after her. He started the campaign by seeking donations from parliamentarians and NRIs in the U.K who collected Rs 1 crore with which the mobile unit was purchased and put up at Amritsar. "On December 18, 2005, this mobile unit, equipped with the latest electronic equipment which facilitates the detection of breast cancer, was flagged off from the Golden Temple. Since then with the help of the local Civil Surgeon and other doctors of Shri Guru Ram Das Hospital (SGRD), hundreds of women have been provided free mammogram examination. The target is the rural and semi-urban women who need to be told that if detected early, cancer is curable", Mr. Chawla told TNS during a visit to the city today. Recalling how he decided to start awareness about breast cancer after the death of his first wife, Mr Chawla said "in the U.K, we formed the Tiffin Club, comprising about 70 U.K parliamentarians who endorsed their support for the "Roko Cancer" campaign". Later, Aishwarya Rai and Jackie Chan, the winners of Diversity Award, also endorsed the campaign. The Trust later got U.K's Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to join the campaign and make its reach global.

"Roko Cancer" has many supporters like Gurinder Chadha, director and producer of the films" Bend It like Beckham", and "Bride and Prejudice". It has also produced an educative film titled. 'Remember Me', which voices the words of breast cancer survivors. According to Ms. Isha Bhandari, Director, Operations, North India, for "Roko Cancer", so far 300 villages have been surveyed and since December in over 10 camps, 500 women have benefited. Examination that costs about Rs 1500 in most hospitals is provided free of cost. She said states, including Delhi and Rajasthan, had shown keen interest in the project and had requested the trust to launch similar initiatives in their states. From Amritsar, the unit will move to other districts of Punjab and will also be brought to Chandigarh and its neighbourhood, Mr. Chawla said. 'By the end of this year or early next year, depending upon the funds we are able to raise, we propose to get another mobile unit for Haryana and Delhi", Mr. Chawla said. The trust is negotiating with institutions like The Tata Cancer Research Institute, Mumbai, and the Oswal Cancer Hospital, Ludhiana, for providing subsidised treatment to the patients who are detected with breast cancer by the unit.