“Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths amongst women. A key factor linked to the relatively high levels of cervical cancer in general population is the lack of cervical health awareness” explained Alisar Allan, Nabah Khan, Shereefa Hannah, all third year Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences (BBMS) program student’s during poster presentation on ‘PAP Smear and its Importance’ at Gulf Medical University, Thumbay Medicity on May 9, 2022 based on a group research project.
Guiding the students were Pathology faculty from Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Dr. Eman Hassan, Assistant Professor and Specialist Pathologist at GMU Thumbay Labs, and Dr. Sana Fathima, Lecturer who said, “The objective of this event was to create awareness amongst the students and the GMU community about cervical cancer and the various screening tests available, with special emphasis on PAP smear and its importance”.
Students explained to fellow students, peers, GMU staff and the immediate community by way of illustrative posters about the incidence of cervical cancer, rationale and importance of PAP smear test, procedure, and frequency of PAP smear screening among women of different age groups, which was well received.
Commending the student’s efforts and enthusiasm, Dr. Preetha Shetty, Program Director of BBMS program said “Communication skills and Team work are important competencies to be attained by the students in addition to the core knowledge and skills. GMU encourages students to conduct such events to provide them opportunities to attain these competencies”.
Congratulating the students and their faculty supervisors, Dean Dr. Manda Venkatramana said “Creating awareness among students and their immediate community about a very important public health problem like the cervical cancer is vital to the health of the community. Social accountability is one of our core values which we instil among students”.
The Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences (BBMS) program offered by College of Medicine is internationally accredited by the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (IBMS), UK. The students in the program are trained in our own state-of-the-art CAP accredited Thumbay Laboratories, which is also approved by the UAE Ministry of Health for Medical Laboratory Sciences internship training for graduates.