The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) is pushing for an incentive to encourage Barbadian men to get prostate checks there.
Chief executive officer Dr Dexter James yesterday appealed to Minister of Health John Boyce for a 50 per cent reduction in the charge for PSA testing during November. He said with statistics indicating Barbados now had the second highest rate of prostate cancer per capita, with the world’s highest mortality rate from the disease, the problem was serious and he called for particular attention to be paid to prostate health.
Boyce said his ministry would “entertain” the hospital director’s request during the Barbados Cancer Society’s upcoming “Movember” campaign which focuses on prostate cancer.
James’ concerns aboout the devastating incidence of the male disease were echoed by president of the Barbados Cancer Society, Dr Dorothy Cooke-Johnson, who noted Barbados was recording over 100 deaths from prostate cancer every year as compared with about 48 from breast cancer and 18 from cervical cancer in women.
She made the observations as she presented a $53 000 ultrasound machine to the hospital for the detection of prostate cancer.
Purchase of the machine was made possible through fund-raising and corporate donations from private sector companies Shell Western Supply and Trading, CGE International Insurance Services Inc, Rockley Golf Club, Goldcorp and PricewaterhouseCoopers. (GC)
