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Screening facilities and equipments
 Nearly 200 million people have undergone screening in Japan so far |
Group cancer screening began in Japan in 1960 when the Miyagi Prefecture Cancer Society toured the Tohoku region to conduct stomach cancer screenings of local residents, using a mobile clinic built with subsidies from the Japan Cancer Society and other organizations. Later, equipment was added to test for cancers of the uterus, lung, breast and colon. In recent years, local chapters have established their own screening centers or conducted screenings in conjunction with local medical institutions.
Since 1993, more than 10 million people have undergone annual cancer screenings with approximately l0,000 actual or suspected cases of cancer found every year. Since JCS was established, a total of more than 190 million people have undergone cancer screening with 198,000 people found to have cancer. Many of them have survived the disease thanks to early detection and treatment. In the year 2001, the total number of people undergoing screening is expected to top 200 million. |
Number of people who underwent groups screenings
by JCS and incidence of cancer detection |
| JCS is commissioned by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to provide free cancer consultations. Some 10,000 people visit JCS headquarters and local chapters every year to seek professional consultation. At the society head office in Tokyo's Ginza district, doctors from the Cancer Institute Hospital and the Tokyo Medical Association give free cancer consultations 18 times a year. In fiscal 2001, 8,477 people visited JCS offices across Japan for free consultations. Since 2002, JCS has begun conducting cancer consultations by telephone. Dr. Kazuo Ohmi, who has worked long at the National Cancer Center Hospital as a gynecologist, gives advice by telephone every Monday afternoon. |
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Dr. Kazuo Ohmi giving advice by telephone for the cancer patients and their families. |
Screening facilities and equipments
| Support for JCS |
| In order to popularize cancer screening, it is necessary to acquire and maintain screening vehicles and other equipments. Currently, JCS chapters across Japan operate a total of 810 cancer screening vehicles (350 for testing stomach cancer, 277 for lung cancer, 27 for both stomach and lung cancer, 98 for uterine cancer, 44 for breast cancer, of which 20 have mammography equipment, and 14 for cancer of the liver, gallbladder and pancreas). One stomach cancer testing vehicle costs about 50 million-yen. In addition to funding by the national and prefectural governments, the chapters receive generous subsidies from the following; the Japan Keirin Association, which operates professional bicycle racing; the Postal Service Agency of the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, which issues New Year's cards that include a lottery number; and the Japan Lottery Association. |
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The group screening for breast cancer aboard a bus loaded mammography. |
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