UP TO 6,500 women in Waterford are to be invited to undergo testing for breast cancer in the city from next month.
BreastCheck, a Government-funded programme providing breast screening for women aged between 50 and 64, will send information letters to the women in the coming weeks, with those eligible for the mammogram test receiving appointments by post.
The mobile digital screening unit is to be located in the grounds of the Whitfield Clinic on the N25 Waterford to Cork Road.
The service, which is offered on a two-yearly cycle, has already catered for more than 2,000 women in west Waterford.
A delegation from Waterford City Council met Minister for Health Mary Harney last October in relation to the issue. And while BreastCheck is currently screening women in counties Kerry, Cork, Galway, Mayo, Meath, Dublin, Limerick, Louth, Sligo, Longford, Carlow and Tipperary South, Waterford city and the southeast is one of the last regions of the country to receive the service.
The service will operate for about six months at Whitfield, or until all the eligible women in the age group have been offered an appointment.
An appointment with BreastCheck will take about 30 minutes. One per cent of tested women are diagnosed with cancer.
Waterford city councillor Séamus Ryan, who along with other councillors has repeatedly raised the issue at HSE South forum meetings, announced that BreastCheck would be available in the city from the end of August at the local authority’s monthly meeting on Monday evening.
Mr Ryan said: “This is something we have been campaigning for for a number of years now.
“I look forward to this service being made available now . . . health services should be made available based on need, not based on geography, not based on where you live . . .
“I think this council has been very proactive in this particular campaign.”
Cllr David Cullinane added: “I think this is fantastic news for the women of Waterford who have been waiting far too long for this service to be delivered.”
Mr Cullinane said he hoped that “the next step” would be the implementation of a public radiotherapy service at Waterford Regional Hospital for the region.
