There are too many instances of persons being diagnosed with cancer when it’s too late.
This is according to Clinical Oncologist and women’s health advocate Dr Nazreen Bhim.
Dr Bhim said more education and screening opportunities are needed to ensure that cancer is detected earlier, resulting in early treatment and prolonged life.
“So in Trinidad and Tobago, more than 75% of cancers are diagnosed in Stage 3 and Stage 4 and that’s the experience that we’ve had and seen in our clinics, and most of the patients also are being diagnosed at a very young age. So for cervical cancer, for example, the average age of diagnosis is 43. So we just did a big screening drive where more than 50% of the patients that we screened who were in their 40s and 50s never had a pap smear before. So in that drive, we actually were able to pick up some cancers as well as pre-cancerous disease.”