“They need to be educated so that people are not afraid to get checked. If it (breast cancer) is found at stage one, the possibility for recovery is high. Most people found it at stage three or four; (when) the possibility for fatality is high,” he said here on Wednesday.
One of the tests for breast cancer is mammography, which involves taking a scan of the breast glands and surrounding tissue. Sadikin noted that out of the 3,200 hospitals in Indonesia, only 200 hospitals have mammogram facilities.
Data has shown that the incidence of breast cancer in Indonesia is 44 per 100,000 people, or lower than in countries such as Australia and Singapore, the minister said. However, the number of fatalities in Indonesia is three times higher compared to other countries.
He also called for public education on the need for conducting other health screenings, such as blood pressure checks to detect hypertension early.
He said he wanted around 300 thousand integrated health posts (posyandus) in Indonesia to have mobile blood pressure measuring devices equipped with a Bluetooth feature.
Sadikin stressed that education is an essential part of promotive and preventive efforts made by the Ministry of Health to keep the community healthy.
According to him, the ministry has been focusing on curative efforts to cure the sick, when in fact, in terms of total health costs and quality of life, it is better to carry out interventions upstream, not downstream.
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Translator: Lia Wanadriani, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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