Health

Rapid increase in cancer cases a concern

March 23, 2019 4:45 pm

Dr Ane Veu

Cancer cases namely prostate, breast and cervical cancer continue to increase at a rapid rate.

The Consultant Physician at CWM hospital’s Medical Oncology Unit says at least four patients are diagnosed with some sort of cancer per week.

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Dr Ane Veu says this means the numbers have doubled with more than 300 screenings done every two months.

“In January and February, there were 359 biopsies done. So 359 patients had a biopsy suspected, a lump somewhere. So all of that adds up.”

Dr Veu says around ten percent of people have died from some form of cancer today, compared to two percent in previous years.

“Smoking is there, you can modify it, don’t smoke, and get away from such environment. Say no to drugs, say no to smoking. Same with alcohol, same with the processed foods.”

Dr Veu adds some of the contributing factors to cancer are excessive smoking, over-consumption of alcohol including increased kava intake.