RIYADH: Several government departments participating in a campaign to fight breast cancer in the Eastern Province will offer their recommendations to the Ministry of the Interior to include breast cancer checks for women aged 40 and above as part of the services covered by the civil affairs offices.

The services usually offered by these offices across the Kingdom include issuing of national identity cards and their renewal, registration of new born babies, death registration, obtaining Haj permits, fingerprinting and re-issuance of lost documents for Saudi citizens.

Dr. Salih Al Solouk, the general director of health affairs in the Eastern Province, said that the recommendation is expected to be officially presented to the ministry soon.

“Early diagnosis is more likely to help victims survive the disease,” Al Solouk said at the launching ceremony of the campaign at the civil affairs office in the region.

The campaign was organized by the office in collaboration with the health office in the region and the Saudi cancer society.

During the campaign, three cases of breast cancer were found among 237 women who voluntarily came forward for a checkup at the mammogram clinic set up at the office. The affected women have now been referred to hospitals for further checkups and treatment.

Lately, the Kingdom has witnessed an increase in campaigns related to fighting breast cancer. The most notable among them was the “10KSA” initiative, which was launched by Princess Rima bint Bandar bin Sultan, the daughter of former Saudi ambassador to the US and the grand daughter of former Crown Prince Sultan, and Modai Battergee founder of Al-Bidayah Breastfeeding Resource and Women’s Center.

The mobile-clinic initiative attracted around 10,000 women to the Princess Nora University, the world’s largest female-only university, in mid-December to form what is believed to be the world’s largest human pink ribbon shape on record, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, to educate women on the disease.

The introduction of a new policy to make medical checkups compulsory for the receiving of government services has proven to be an effective tactic in forcing people to give top priority to their medical condition.

For example, linking the issuance of birth certificates with the taking of prescribed vaccinations for newborns has contributed significantly to reducing or even eradicating child-related disease. Similarly, imposing premarital medical tests has helped to eliminate many infectious and heridatory disease in new marriages.