The government has been urged to pay particular attention to the upsurge of breast cancers cases in the country.

According to the President of Breast Care International (BCI), many women continue to visit healthcare facilities with advanced cases of breast cancer.

The former chair of the Ghana Cancer Board, Dr Beatrice Wiafe-Addai, expressed concern about the fear some women have of attending health care institutions lately because of COVID-19.

She spoke to the media during a free breast cancer screening at the Church of Pentecost at Gyinase in Kumasi.

Dr Wiafe-Addai says creating awareness and screening women in rural communities, can reduce the number of breast cancer cases recorded.

The former chair of the Ghana Cancer Board believes retraining community health nurses on how to examine and diagnose breast cancer at an early stage is critical.

“The upsurge in breast cases can be controlled if the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ghana Health Services (GHS) re-train community nurses on how to clinically examine, screen and diagnosed early-stage disease,” she said.

 For her, nurses should be able to refer cancer cases to treatment facilities to receive proper medical care.

She attributes the rise in breast cancer cases to the government's efforts to fight COVID-19 to the detriment of other diseases.

Hundreds of women benefited from the screening exercise. They had the opportunity to ask questions concerning the disease.