Molecular biology lab planned to boost cancer care, says state minister

The government has decided to set up a National Molecular Biology Laboratory to improve the country’s health care, says State Minister for Health MA Muhit.

Molecular biology techniques are changing cancer treatment worldwide, and work on the lab has already begun, he told the sixth Bangladesh Breast Cancer Conference at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon in Dhaka on Friday.

Cancer institutes are getting modern equipment, while new specialists and skilled staff are being trained at home and abroad, Muhit said.

Many women in Bangladesh die of breast cancer every year, the state minister said, pointing to research showing most patients see a doctor only at an advanced stage. “The later the disease is detected, the greater the risk of complications and spread through the body.

“Yet cancer is no longer a death sentence. If breast cancer is caught at the very earliest stage and treated properly, the death rate is very low and patients can live healthily for a long time.”

He pressed for regular screening programmes for women of certain ages.

“We must raise public awareness widely and launch specific screening programmes for women of certain ages. With proper screening, risk or symptoms can be caught right at the start,” Muhit said.