Pink Caravan calls on doctors and nurses to join its ride

The breast cancer awareness initiative Pink Caravan is calling on local and resident doctors and nurses of all nationalities to join its seventh annual ride.

The initiative by the Friends of Cancer Patients (FoCP) will be themed ‘Seven Years for Seven Emirates’, and begins in Sharjah on March 7.

Registrations will be open for male and female health-care providers on pinkcaravan.ae from January 12 to February 7. Registration is open to those covering general medicine, family medicine and radiology, plus X-Ray technicians and nurses. “Doctors, nurses and X-Ray technicians are instrumental in encouraging individuals and families to undergo free tests and screenings as well as providing them with detailed information on breast cancer and how to deal with it as patients,” said Dr Sawsan Al Madhi, Director General of FoCP and Head of the Pink Caravan Ride Medical and Awareness Committee.

She pointed out the seventh annual ride will feature many activities held for the first time. “The medical clinics will cover more areas compared to previous years- that is why it is important to increase the number of the medical and nursing staff,” she added.

Every year, through the medical clinics, the Pink Caravan Ride provides citizens and residents in the UAE with free screenings, each of which is worth Dh500-1,000 in hospitals and public and private clinics. It also provides breast cancer patients with moral support and medical treatments free of charge.

Over the past six years, the Pink Caravan Ride has successfully raised awareness about the importance of early detection and helped dispel myths about breast cancer. The teams have offered medical advice and lectures and provided organised workshops at 87 schools and 410 medical clinics offering free detection examinations for 41,391 people, including 8,526 men.

source : gulfnews