Due to our lives getting complex with the passage of time, this topic assumes an enormous dimension, for the upkeep of a healthy society. ”Health Screening” is the need of the hour for every member of a progressive nation, helping build a sound future of a country.
‘Health Screening‘ is almost a mandate today, in view of the huge amount of disease conditions which are ascribed to….largely faulty Lifestyle…. responsible for essentially preventable and timely remediable ailments… broadly speaking.
This preventable and holistic approach should be made available to the public at large, in rural, semi-urban and urban settings, where the community is scattered and located.
Primary prevention is the buzzword today, in the medical fraternity,thereby on one hand preventing increasing morbidity and on the other hand relieving people of the disease and financial burden implicated in all such cases.
* An overall glimpse into the contemporary ‘Health Screening’ recommendations may be found as below (although the list is by no means exhaustive)…
1. General Survey of persons of all ages… at a recognized health facility… to discover physical abnormalities…related to a disease.
2. Diagnostic modalities… such as…
Blood tests…. to rule out Hypertension/Diabetes/Lipid disorders/ Stones in the Urinary system/Acute & Chronic viral affections… like HIV/Hepatitis A,B,C &E,/ Tumour Markers(as decided by the Physicians)
Stool for Occult Blood… to rule out Large Intestinal Malignancy
Prophylactic Colonoscopy… to rule out Cancer of the Large Intestine…for diagnostic and therapeutic implications.
PAP smear (In women)… to rule out Cancer of the Cervix
PSA (In males)… to rule out Cancer of the Prostate (beyond results due to enlarged Prostate)
Mammography and/or USG… to rule out Cancer of the Breast
Lung Cancer Screening….to those who have been long smokers…to rule out Carcinoma-Lung.
Oral cancer screening measures… to detect early Oral Cancers
Periodical USG-Abdomen of subjects…to keep an eye on the many abdominal organs… affected by hectic lifestyle measures. etc. to name only a few of the modalities for this gigantic objective.
This campaign should be widely propagated to mitigate the suffering of humanity from a large No. of Disease entities which are largely preventable and even if detected early ,can be claimed to be curable… as per international guidelines and evidence based Medicine.
