Breast cancer: Pink Express with the mission “Early Detection. Saves Lives. The Pink Express, a mobile breast cancer screening equipment, to conduct awareness and screening camps for the underprivileged free of cost.
Breast Cancer is the biggest killer among women in India today. While in western countries the survival rates in Breast Cancer over the years has become progressively very high, sadly in India it is still woefully low. This is primarily due to lack of awareness and periodic screening as a result of which majority of the cases get detected in stage 3 or stage 4.
To create an awareness on Breast Cancer with a mission “Early Detection. Saves Lives”, Rotary Bangalore Palmville in association with Sakra World Hospital has initiated the Pink Express. The Pink Express, a mobile breast cancer screening centre equipped with breast cancer screening equipment. The Pink Express will be used for conducting awareness and screening camps for the underprivileged free of cost. While the Rotary is funding all the medical equipment for the Pink Express, Sakra Hospital is providing the doctors and medical technicians to conduct these camps.
Mr Ritesh Goel (President – Rotary Palmville) said “we are very happy to launch this initiative as a part of Rotary International’s global focus on Healthcare. The technology being used in the Pink Express for screening is based on Thermal Imaging. This is a “No Touch No Pain” process encouraging more women to undergo this test and hence create a bigger social impact”
Mr Takashi Maki (MD of Sakra World Hospital) says “This initiative is in line with our philosophy of community services. We are very pleased to partner with Rotary who are committed to projects for a social cause. This initiative is hence focused on Awareness Building and Early Detection leading to higher survival rates”
The Pink Express will travel to parts of Rural Bangalore, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to do the camps. It is equipped with the Thermal Imaging equipment and an Ultrasonogram. The unique thing about the screening is the use of a new technology which is based on Thermal Imaging where heat maps of the breast are captured and subsequently interpreted by the system automatically aided by AI based Machine Learning software. The solution- Thermalytix is from Niramai, a Bangalore based company. Besides other benefits like a pain free process and no radiation hazards, this technology can detect abnormalities even below the age group of 40 years which is very relevant as India has a growing incidence rate of Breast Cancer in the younger population.
