FOR the first time in its history Parliament House yesterday took on the semblance of a medical facility, when hundreds of women took part in a breast-screening exercise organised by women parliamentarians.

By 7: a.m., women drawn from religious organisations and other identifiable groups from the Greater Accra Region began trooping to the House to take part in the exercise, which formed part of efforts to step up breast cancer awareness in the country.

As a prelude to the exercise, breast cancer was the subject of discussion on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday.

The usual sitting of Parliament lasted for about an hour, after which some of the men MPs, some of whose wives took part in the exercise, joined their female counterparts and later attended a seminar which followed the exercise.

The women were also educated on how to look for changes in their breast and seek early medical examination for the detection of the disease.

The exercise is a collaboration by the women’s caucus in Parliament, the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) Breast Clinic, and Reach For Recovery Ghana, an Accra-based breast cancer support and counseling centre.

Breast cancer which can spread to other parts of the body is ranked the fourth leading cause of death in the country.

Although it affects mainly women, medical research has shown that men, too, are at risk but less likely to be infected.

Available statistics indicate that the disease is alarming with over 400 new cases of the disease diagnosed at the Breast Clinic annually. Dr. Clement Edusa of the Department of Radiotherapy at the KBTH told the Times that the message about breast cancer must be spread "and Parliament House being a place for policy makers, we are trying to hook them on to the awareness creation of the disease."

Dr. Edusa said he was overwhelmed by the attendance. "We were not expecting so many, now we see women from all aspects of life, we hope to have the energy to attend to them all."

Ms Elizabeth Sackey (NPP-Okaikwei North), a member of the Planning Committee, said they expected to reach out to about 700 women.

She said the cost of the screening has been borne by the caucus, adding that the women will undergo further mammography screening and those found to be affected by the disease will be assisted to undergo treatment.

She said the high turnout of the women showed that the message had gone down well and expressed the hope that the women will embark on follow-up medical examinations from time to time.

Ms Mercy Agye- pong, a medical superintendent at the Parliament Clinic, who took part in the exercise, said it was useful for her. "As we are growing we have to go through such screening to know what is wrong with us."

The seminar, held after the screening had the theme: "Be breast cancer aware and not breast cancer scared," with Mrs. Betty Hughes, wife of the Speaker of Parliament as the special guest.