Our aim through the European plan to fight cancer is to have equal treatment in all member states in dealing with the disease, EU Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakes said on Thursday, speaking as part of a tour in Paphos, adding that prevention and diagnosis are of huge importance in the fight against cancer. Kyriakides first visited the offices of the Paphos Pancyprian Association of Cancer Patients and Friends (PASYKAF), expressing her satisfaction with the work being done on palliative care issues. "Paphos is a province quite remote from the oncology centres and has peculiarities in terms of patients' treatment," she said, adding that within the framework of the European Cancer Plan and for the first time with a funding of more than pound 5 billion, they are approaching cancer from prevention issues to palliative care and patient-centred quality of life. The Commissioner then visited the Mammography Control Centre in Yeroskipou, which she described as a model, adding it is a great satisfaction as Commissioner for Health and Food Safety to see in her own country a Mammography Control Centre that actually provides its services according to the standards set. Kyriakides said that services were already being offered to women aged 45-74 years and that population-based breast cancer screening programmes had been expanded. She went on to congratulate the staff of the Mammography Screening Centre in Yeroskipou and the Director of the Ministry of Health, Christina Giannaki, for her personal oversight. Asked how Cyprus is responding to the issues of prevention and treatment, Kyriakides replied that through a specific program identifying inequalities on issues related to oncology services in the Member States, the goal of the European Commission is to assess the situation in each country and see how they can offer support, so that all patients, regardless of the country in which they live, have exactly the same and equal treatment. In addition, she said that on the issues of population screening for breast cancer, Cyprus has a programme that has been running since 2003-2004, adding that the centres have been upgraded with very modern mammographs and meet and follow the age standards. EU Health Commissioner also sent the message that if women receive an invitation from the Ministry of Health to have a mammogram, they should do so since, as reiterated, early diagnosis saves lives. 'We should be proud that as Cypriots we have these possibilities', he concluded.
Source: Cyprus News Agency