Rural doctors to be trained in treatment of female cancers

A charity foundation which will provide training for rural grassroots doctors in treating female cancer, especially ovarian cancer, has been established in Shanghai.

It is through Dr Wang Yu, president of Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital and Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation.

Doctors in rural regions will have the opportunity to come to Shanghai for training and then offer the same high-quality medical service for local patients.

"Medical treatment for female cancer has been improved in recent years due to breakthrough in the fields of genetic tests and targeted medicine," said Wang. "But the survival rate of ovarian cancer remains the same. It is the most deadly female cancer."

Ovarian cancer has no symptoms in its early stage, so about 70 percent of patients are not diagnosed before the disease is in its terminal stage.

It is the female cancer with the highest death rate, and 52,000 women are diagnosed with the disease in China every year, with 22,000 fatalities.

"We want to establish the foundation to give training for doctors in undeveloped regions to learn the knowledge and skills of female cancer, including ovarian cancer," said Wang. "This will achieve a unified and standardized treatment that patients can enjoy in their hometowns."

She said doctors from different regions will also work together to improve medical practice and help promote the individualized, standardized and whole-process cancer treatment for patients across the country.