More hospitals to get mammography machines by month end

Breast cancer screening will be enhanced in New Amsterdam, Linden, Lethem and Suddie.

Mammography machines which helps doctors detect and treatment women with breast cancer, will be installed at hospitals in these cities by the end of this month.

During the Ministry of Health’s year-end press briefing at Brickdam, Georgetown, on Tuesday, Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony, said the government also plans to acquire more machines later this year.

These machines will further expand screening services to women in underserved regions and help reduce breast cancer mortality rates countrywide.

“If you are able to do an image of the breast early, you will be able to detect if there are any changes. We will be able to do a fine-needle biopsy and through the biopsy, we can send that to the new pathology lab that we opened [in 2024] and we would be able to differentiate the types of breast cancer the person has,” Dr Anthony explained.

Dr Anthony said that at least 253 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024.

With regards to other types of cancers, the health minister said that 200 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer; 107 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer and about 98 patients with colorectal cancer.

Minister Anthony underlined that the ministry will be ramping up efforts in 2025 to prevent these types of cancers.

The government continues to invest heavily in the health sector with the procurement of modern medical equipments, construction of state-of-the-art regional hospitals, health centres and by facilitating a number of advanced training programmes.