Although cancer is no longer an incurable disease, a large proportion of suspected cancer patients in the nation remain reluctant to seek a diagnosis, the Taipei City Government’s Department of Health said yesterday.
The department’s health promotion division head, Lin Li-ju (林莉茹), said of the 277,000 people who underwent the health department’s free cancer screenings between January and last month, 1,471 were found to have precancerous lesions and 456 were diagnosed with cancers.
“While some are willing to come face-to-face with cancer, as many as 1,666, or 41.2 percent, of people who tested positive in fecal occult blood testing [FOBT] during that period never came back for a diagnostic test,” Lin said.
In addition, about 688 (32.4 percent) and 730 (21.3 percent) of Taipei citizens thought to have oral and breast cancer respectively due to their test results also have yet to get a diagnosis, Lin said.
“Some of these people refused to undergo further tests — such as colonoscopies or breast ultrasounds — to confirm the diagnosis, because they were either too scared to find out whether they really had the diseases, or too confident in their health,” Lin said.
Local health departments offer women with a family history of breast cancer aged 40 to 44 and all women aged 45 to 69 a mammography every two years. Women aged 30 or above are offered one free Pap smear per year; people between 50 and 74 may be screened for colon cancer at two-year intervals, and betel-nut chewers and smokers aged 30 and above, as well as Aboriginal betel-nut users over 18, are encouraged to be screened for oral cancer once every two years.
A 67-year-old man surnamed Wang (王) said he had exercised regularly and kept routine bowel movements for the previous 25 years before he received a positive FOBT test four years ago.
“I refused to believe the result, so I scheduled a colonoscopy shortly afterward. To my astonishment, they did find a large tumor in my rectum and diagnosed me with late, stage-three colorectal cancer,” Wang said, adding that he did not have a family history of cancer or any symptoms before the diagnosis.
Wang aggressively sought treatment, had the tumor removed and had 12 chemotherapy sessions.
He is in remission and serves as a volunteer counselor at the Hope Foundation for Cancer Care.
“You may leave your destiny in God’s hands, but you must be in control of your decisions,” Wang said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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