This Tuesday the 25th, the Breast Imaging Area and the Aesthetic Oncology Unit of the National Cancer Institute (INCA) were inaugurated, with the presence of the Secretary of the Presidency, Álvaro Delgado. There he affirmed that in Uruguay there is no first-class or second-class public health and that both in mutual insurance companies and in ASSE, users have access to the same rights and opportunities.
The works of the inaugurated sector, which includes two mammographs and an ultrasound machine that allows completing the diagnosis and carrying out the preoperative procedure called core biopsy, began in September 2021 and ended in August 2022, with an investment of 2.7 million pesos, through ASSE decentralized credits.
The activity was also attended by the president of the State Health Services Administration (ASSE), Leonardo Cipriani; the vice president of the organization, Marcelo Sosa; the director of INCA, Robinson Rodríguez; the head of the Southern Region of ASSE, Blauco Rodríguez, and representatives of the health system.
On the occasion, Delgado recognized the work of the health system personnel, in particular, in the COVID-19 pandemic, and valued that INCA continued to attend, prevent and contain, because the health of the users was absolutely necessary.
He also maintained that the room that is being inaugurated contributes a lot to prevention and recalled that 2,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year in the country.
“The challenge as a society is to reduce the numbers of cases and deaths. For that, treatment and early detection are necessary, because breast cancer is a disease that can be treated and cured. We need involvement by the people and that there are instruments and officials as there are,” Delgado emphasized.
Double the number of mammograms
Cipriani, meanwhile, pointed out that the new imaging device will double the number of mammograms in the center, and added that the ultrasound space was incorporated in the aforementioned room, for greater patient comfort during care.
Likewise, he mentioned that since 2020 the number of mammograms carried out in health centers dependent on ASSE increased by 20% and valued territorial decentralization by incorporating mobile mammographs.
The INCA director explained that, through the public provider’s National Mammography Information Node, more than 9,400 studies were carried out in 2021 and more than 9,700 in 2022, with the aim of preventing breast cancer.
