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| Lo says the new screenings will be for lung, liver and cervical cancers |
Hong Kong’s plan to roll out more screening schemes for cancer will target lung, liver and cervical cancers, Secretary for Health Lo Chung Mau said Sunday.
These are on top of the screening programs already in place for colorectal cancer, breast cancer and cervical cancer.
Lo told reporters after a radio interview that cancer is the number one killer in Hong Kong, claiming the lives of 15,000 people year, so early diagnosis is important.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
He said artificial intelligence or AI will be used for the screening of lung cancer, which afflicts the most number of people in Hong Kong.
A local university will be tapped to conduct the AI-aided screening, which will target individuals with a history of lung cancer in the family. The program is expected to start early next year.
As for liver cancer, he said the government will look for possible carriers of hepatitis B, which is the cause of 80% of all liver cancers.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
To do this, the government will incorporate the testing in its Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme, which is at present targeting patients with high blood pressure, blood sugar or cholesterol level.
As with the existing scheme, he said, “the percentage of subsidy and co-care will be roughly in half-half.”
He said the liver cancer screening will be rolled out in phases and will initially target high-risk individuals, including those born before 1988 and did not receive the universal hepatitis B vaccination, as well as family members of the virus carriers.
“We estimate there will still be roughly over 400,000 chronic hepatitis B carriers, and 40 percent of them…don’t know that they are carriers themselves,” said Lo.
“The most common …among those are the family members, so these are the targets we are looking at, and that will be the program we are rolling out.”
He said there are roughly 700,000 family members of chronic hepatitis B carriers and about 40 percent of them, or 300,000 are eligible for screening.
The last scheme will involve testing for the human papillomavirus or HPV, which almost always causes cervical cancer.
Currently, cervical cancer screenings are provided at maternal and child care centers and clinics run by non-government organizations, which charge a nominal fee.
Women
aged 25 to 65 who have had sex are urged to do the test annually, as they are
the most vulnerable to HPV infection.
