GULF MEDICAL UNIVERSITY “PINK RIBBON” CAMPAIGN: 2008
GULF MEDICAL UNIVERSITY
Jointly conducted by
Department of Surgery
Department of Community Medicine
Department of Pathology
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, GMCA
Department of Nursing
PROGRAM REPORT
October being the Breast Cancer Awareness month, GMC Hospital & Research Centre has been in the forefront to commemorate it in a big way.
A 5-day Breast Cancer Awareness Program was conducted from October 19 – 23, 2008 in GMC Hospital premises.
Dr. Manda Venkatramana, Associate Dean, Professor of Surgery and the Organizing Chairman of this Program said that the inspiration for conducting this program was the phenomenal success of a similar campaign conducted last year and the positive feedback obtained from the participants.
The objective of this program was to:
Educate and create awareness about the number one killer in women, Breast Cancer
Rate as important the role of General Practitioners and Family Physicians in the prevention and early detection of breast cancer
Highlight that the management of breast cancer is multidisciplinary and involves team effort for a successful outcome
Underscore the role of genetics in predicting the responses of breast cancer to various modalities of treatment
Enlighten about the holistic perspectives of breast cancer especially the current etiology and prevention methods
The target audiences were the medical students, RACGP registrars, nursing staff and faculty of GMC Hospital and GMCA.
Prof. Gita Ashok Raj, Provost and Professor of Pathology, formally inaugurated the Program on October 19, 2008 by delivering a talk on “Role of Pathologist Beyond Diagnosis.” She effectively highlighted the importance of genetic studies which would help predict the responses of breast cancer to various modalities of treatment and broke the myth that generally the role of pathologists is only diagnosing breast cancer.
Dr. Satish Kumar, Lecturer in Physiology who was recently awarded the Medal of Honor for “Enlightened Leadership” by the Maharishi University of Management, USA and the Netherlands, enlightened the audience on “Holistic Perspectives of Breast Cancer on October 20, 2008. He delivered a very impressive talk and highlighted that evidence is emerging that disruption of one’s circadian clock is associated with cancer in humans and that interference with internal timekeeping can tip the balance in favor of tumor development.
He also said that elevated risks exist in humans after longer periods of rotating night work. Night time exposure to artificial light stimulated the growth of implanted human breast tumor cells by suppressing the levels of melatonin and extended periods of night time darkness greatly slowed the growth of these tumors
On day 3 of the program, there was a multidisciplinary integrated seminar on ‘Role of a Family Physician in diagnosis & prevention of Breast Cancer’ by RACGP Registrars. The session was chaired by Dr. Manda, Dr. Elsheba Mathew, Dr.Basha and Dr. Nahla, Radiologist.
Dr. Ayan Said spoke on ‘Epidemiology and risk factors – The Iceberg Phenomenon,’ Dr. Asha Vinod on ‘Primary Care Evaluation of Breast Lumps – Clinical Assessment,’ Dr. Shah Imran spoke on ‘‘Primary Care Evaluation of Breast Lumps – Diagnosis and Screening Recommendations,’ Dr. Jessica Semoes, who was also overall in-charge of the program spoke on ‘An approach to Management – Why Multidisciplinary?’ and the last speaker of the day was Dr. Fajish Habib who lucidly presented the ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ and ‘For Your Information’ about breast cancer, thus summarizing all that a GP should know about breast cancer in a Q&A format.
Dr. Elsheba Mathew emphasized that the Registrars who would be general practitioners and family physicians tomorrow should show compassion and empathy with breast cancer patients.
The Nurses put up a very impressive show on October 22, 2008 with an informative talk by Ms. Merlin Thomas, Nursing Supervisor on ‘Nursing Care in Breast Cancer’ after a preliminary introduction by Ms. Jane Celin, Nursing Superintendent. This was followed by a role play by Ms. Rani Anna Varghese, Ms. Lini George, Ms. Reena Raichel and Ms. Jennifer Lobo, Ms.Seemeen Akhtar. They enacted a small drama highlighting the importance of breast self-examination and how to teach the patient about breast self-examination. A manikin was used in the demonstration and the performance won thunderous applause for the simple and effective way the message was conveyed.
The last and final day of the program was a Quiz Competition on Breast Diseases conducted by the RACGP registrars for the III MBBS students on October 23, 2008. Five teams of two students each participated in the contest with enthusiasm. The quiz was organized by Dr. Baljinder Singh and Dr. Syed Amir Rizvi. The latter was the quiz master too and the Score keeper was Dr. Fajish Habib. The high-points of the contest were the buzzer round and rapid-fire round were the teams had to answer as many questions as possible in one-minute. It generated a lot of interest and the audience comprising of the III MBBS students actively cheered and encouraged the participants.
The participants were Ms. Sarhan Mohammad Sadiq & Ms.Ohmed Shahid Khilji (Team A), Ms.Azbin Abdul Aziz & Afrah Abdul Wahid Ali (Team B), Ms. Aamina Jahan & Ms.Haseena Begum (Team C), Ms.Delaram Moezzi & Ms.Fatima Nilufa (Team D) and Mr.Mohd Burhan Khan & Mr.Noor Mohammed (Team E). The winners were Team C and the runners up were Team E. The winners were awarded prizes on November 5, 2008 during the 10th anniversary celebrations of Gulf Medical College.
Overall the quiz contest, the first of its kind, was very well organized and conducted and it was also very educative and informative for the students with the entire gamut of breast health and diseases being effectively covered.
This program has been accredited by the Ministry of Health for 8 CME credit hours.
