Using the mammogram process routinely, ninety percent of breast cancer cases can be addressed.

However, Medical Director for Viseisei Health Centre Doctor Swaran Naidu says in Fiji, mammogram is only available for females who have been diagnosed with the risk of having breast cancer, given the expenses involved in getting these tests done.

“The process is expensive to maintain, to get the personnel to keep the machines going, to do the reporting, so it is expensive.”

A mammogram is an X-ray examination of the breast, used to detect and diagnose breast disease in women who either have breast problems, such as a lump, pain, or nipple discharge, as well as for women who have no breast complaints.

Meanwhile Naidu says, while there are specialists available in this sector they are also involved in other aspects of health care, which makes it hard to have them dedicated to breast cancer treatment.