The state
government may carry out a pilot project to test the efficacy of a new blood
test-based device that claims to detect breast cancer within 15 minutes.
State
health minister Dr Deepak Sawant said at the global launch of the device,
MammoAlert, in Mumbai, “We will run a pilot in areas where the incidence of
breast cancer is high.“
He said
over 1.5 lakh women are diagnosed with breast cancer across India every year
and 70,000 die due to its complications every year. Breast cancer is the most
common among Indian women. “With this innovation, we can aspire to save many
lives. This technology makes cancer screening within the reach of the common
man across geographies,“ Sawant added.
The
Centre recently announced a population-based screening programme to detect
cancers of the breast, cervix and oral cavity .
A Silicon
Valley company on Wednesday unveiled the device that “can be carried on a motor
bike“ from village-to-village for testing, said owner Sanjeev Saxena. He added
that the test has over 95% accuracy and zero rate of false positive. He likened
the test to a rapid blood sugar test to detect diabetes.
The
inauguration was also attended by Amruta Fadnavis, wife of chief minister
Devendra Fadnavis, and women & child development minister Vidya Thakur.
Saxena
said the test will soon get US FDA and European CE clearances, and they are
looking at a July launch.
Source: The Times of India 
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