Subsidised screening during Breast Cancer Awareness Month

SINGAPORE - In Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, the Singapore Cancer Foundation will be giving $25 discount vouchers for use in breast screening at polyclinics and hospitals.

Breast screening at polyclinics cost about $50.

The Breast Cancer Foundation is also spending $400,000 a year for the next five years to help Community Health Assist Scheme (Chas) card holders screen for breast cancer.

For this year's campaign, creative agency DDB has provided, free of charge, designs for T-shirts, which will be sold at $15 each, as well as tweaked Facebook, Twitter and Instagram logos to reflect breast self-examination.

Breast cancer is highly treatable, and the earlier it is discovered, the better the outcome.

This year, the theme for Breast Cancer Awareness Month is "Together We are Stronger".

Mrs Noor Quek, president of the BCF, said women with breast cancer needs support - be it from family, friends or at the workplace, hence the slogan.

For Ms Katherine Goh, 45, it was support from both family and work that got her through the difficult time when she discovered she had breast cancer in 2008.

The deputy director at the Civil Service College had to have her entire breast removed at the age of 39, because the cancer had spread.

Her job required frequent travel, but her head of human resources, Mr Spencer Heng, re-designed her job so she could spend more time here, recuperating.

He said the college is very supportive of employees diagnosed with serious illness.

It not only provides them with time off to go for their treatment, it also lets them have more flexible working arrangements, such as working part-time or fewer hours.

He said: "This is so that they can concentrate on getting well while still continuing to work."

This article was published on Sep 26 in The Straits Times.

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