THE brightly-coloured lobby of the Lam Tin Well-Woman Clinic buzzes with smartly-dressed, chattering, smiling women with little but praise for the facilities and treatment they have received since the centre opened last year.
Yet doctors around Hong Kong fear inadequate monitoring and treatment by inexperienced surgeons may do some of these women more harm than good.
The warning comes as the number of women dying from breast cancer in Hong Kong is on the rise.
In 1985 262 died from the disease. In 1993 - the latest figures available - that figure had risen to 313.
The Lam Tin centre, the first of three to be set up by 1997 around the territory, saw 2,695 women between May last year and this June.
It offers a screening service for women of 45 to 65 for breast and cervical cancer, as well as other illnesses which increase with age. Diabetes, brittle bones and high cholesterol top the list.
After being screened at Lam Tin, 18 women have been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer; two for cervical cancer and another four are being treated for pre-cancerous cervical lesions.