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Kota Kinabalu: Lack of awareness remains a major barrier to early detection of breast cancer with 50 per cent of sufferers from Sabah, Sarawak and East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia diagnosed at advanced stages of the disease.
“The level of awareness on the importance of cancer screening is still low. Some patients choose to wait in the hopes the symptoms would disappear and seek medical treatment when the cancer is already Stage 3,” Prof Dr Ho Gwo Fuang, Consultant Clinical Oncologist at Universiti Malaya Centre (UMMC) and Universiti Malaya Specialist Centre (UMSC).
According to statistics, he noted that 50 per cent of patients from Sabah, Sarawak and the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia had stage three breast cancer compared to the west coast of the peninsula at 40 percent.
On the Sabah front, State Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Seri Christina Liew, citing the Sabah Cancer Registry, noted a total of 8,818 new cancer cases were reported in the State from 2012 to 2016.
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