Women in Veles call for regular breast checks as town’s mammograph remains out of service
At a Pink October event in Veles participants warned about roughly 1,000 annual breast cancer cases in North Macedonia and demanded appointments and functioning equipment.
About 1,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in North Macedonia every year, officials announced at an awareness event in Veles where the town's mammograph has not been working for a long time.
The gathering, organized as part of the Pink October campaign, aimed to remind women to get examined: early detection increases the chances of successful treatment, organisers said.
March, leaflets and personal testimony
Women and young girls marched through Veles distributing flyers to raise awareness about breast protection. The action was organized by the Organization of Women of Veles with support from the Youth Center.
Ruska Jankovska, a Veles resident who recovered from breast cancer, described her experience: "In a hard fight that lasted three years I managed to continue my life. The tumor was very large, it needed chemotherapy to shrink, then they operated on me, then I underwent radiotherapy. Now I feel well. To women who have this disease: do not despair, do not give up, it can be beaten, have a will to live, the disease is the same as others. A message to health institutions, give us appointments, give us a mammograph, give us check-ups, give us therapies, so we can be examined in time, so it won't be too late. There are no appointments." Jankovska is a former employee of "Porcelanka".
Mirjana Trajkova, president of the Organization of Women of Veles, said: "We have gatherings of women, an exchange of experiences about their health problem. The pink ribbon is a reminder that an examination should be done: self-check, mammography, ultrasound. The numbers are worrying, more and more women face this problem, the age threshold is lowering every year. The most important thing is raising awareness among women, for them to pay attention to themselves. Patients complain that they do not receive timely therapies, the state must overcome this situation."
Organizers announced two upcoming events: a panel with specialist doctors on October 21 at the European House in Veles, and a recreational women's run on October 10.
Photo: SDK.MK)
