Strong response to call for people to check for melanoma cancer

All the appointments have been taken at the melanoma skin cancer screening clinic at Boffa Hospital following the overwhelming response to the one-day offer for people to have moles or pigmented lesions checked.

Malta, together with the rest of Europe, is on Monday celebrating `Melanoma Monday` as part of the Euro-Melanoma skin cancer campaign.

All the available slots for Monday morning were taken just one day after the campaign was launched five days ago.

"It was a record - in just one day all 120 bookings were taken up," Dr Lawrence Scerri, head of the department of dermatology at Boffa Hospital and vice-president of the Association of Dermatology and Venereology said when contacted.

This is the third year that Malta is taking part in this campaign. The association had called on those with suspicious-looking moles or pigmented lesions to have them checked at Boffa Hospital on `Melanoma Monday`.

When asked if the association would be adding another day of appointments, Dr Scerri said Melanoma Monday was purely a symbolic gesture to create awareness about one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer.

"People can still set an appointment any time they want throughout the entire year; they do not have to wait until the next Melanoma Monday," Dr Scerri said.

"Anyone who has a suspicious-looking mole should immediately see their doctor who would in turn refer them to us," he said.

The patient data gathered on Monday will be sent to Belgium for statistical evaluation as part of the European pool of data.

New statistics released by the association revealed that a total of 201 new cases of melanoma were reported over a nine-year period between 1993 and last year, averaging 22 cases a year.

Of these cases, 55 per cent were women. The majority of the cases, 44 per cent, were reported in people aged between 35 and 60.

However, the good news is that between 2000 and last year, the mortality rate of those with melanoma has fallen.

The message of the association is loud and clear: prevention and early diagnosis are the only way out. Once the melanoma spreads, there is no turning back.