Screening for breast and cervical cancer will not now be introduced until the middle of next year. Both programmes were officially announced more than six months ago but the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, said yesterday that preparatory work remained to be done.
Speaking at the introduction of the Europe Against Cancer campaign yesterday, Mr Cowen said there was much work to be done on population registers, giving names and addresses of women, for both programmes to ensure that they were properly focused on those most at risk.
Advertisements for a project director for the breast screening programme had been placed, he said, and the first phase would cover the Eastern, North-Eastern and Midland Health Board area. It would target 120,000 women in the 50 to 64 age group.
The cervical screening programme was now also due to begin at some stage in 1998, said the Minister. The pilot programme would be carried out in the Mid-Western Health Board area.
Eventually a national screening programme would be introduced for women in the 25 to 60 age group at minimum intervals of five years.
Explaining the delays, Mr Cowen said there had been "a lot of discussion" ongoing as to how best structure the programmes. Medical experts had stressed to him the need to ensure that a "quality programme" was established.
The central message of the EU cancer campaign was Silence is Cancer's Best Friend.
It concentrated on women's cancers, in particular on the prevention of breast and cervical cancer.
Mr Cowen said that Ireland had the second-highest incidence of women's cancers in Europe. "This campaign is aimed at encouraging women to talk about women's cancers.
"The core message is that cervical cancer can be prevented and breast cancer can be successfully treated if detected early."
Prof Niall O'Higgins of the department of surgery in UCD said that although the incidence of cancer was increasing, the outcome for treatment was improving year by year.
"It is now recognised that many cancers can be prevented and for many cancers, such as breast cancer, which cannot be prevented, long-term cure is becoming increasingly likely when the condition is found at an early stage," said Prof O'Higgins.