Could universal breast cancer screening be coming to Hong Kong? Leader Carrie Lam hints at policy change
City’s first woman chief executive says government collecting data to assess the need for population-wide mammography programme
In what appears to be a shift of the government’s position on breast cancer screening, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has revealed that officials will explore whether a population-wide mammography programme is needed to fight the city’s most common cancer in women.
Lam, Hong Kong’s first woman chief executive, said the government was collecting data to assess the need.
Breast cancer claimed the lives of 702 Hong Kong women in 2016, up from 637 in 2015.
The chief executive touched on the topic on Thursday as the city marked International Women’s Day. She addressed guests at a ceremony to open a new breast health centre in Wong Tai Sin with the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation.
“There is a need for the government and the medical sector to conduct more research and collect more data, in order to explore whether it is appropriate to implement universal breast cancer screening for asymptomatic women or those at average risk,” Lam said.
