The national breast screening programme will be launched in the middle of next month, with the initial screening focussed on women aged between 50 and 59 the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Joe Cassar said today

About 30,000 women aged between 50 and 59 will be called for screening over over a period of three years. Dr Cassar said this age group constituted the highest risk sector, and he was urging NGOs to encourage women to make use of this service. Evidence had shown, he said, that screening programmes had significantly lowered deaths from breast cancer thanks to early detection.

Initial screening will be done through a mammogram but a number of women will be screened further through a combination of further X-ray images, magnified views, ultrasounds and guided tissue samples if required.

Dr Cassar made his comments during a press conference by the Action for Breast Cancer Foundation to mark world breast cancer day.

He said the screening would take place at the Breast Screening Clinic in Lascaris, which was purposely separate from the hospital environment. The service would not affect people who would continued to be screened at hospitals after reporting symptoms.