Indian Cancer Society (ICS) in association with School of Commerce Studies, Jain (Deemed-to-be University) conducted Cancer Awareness Sessions on 1 February 2018 for Bachelor of Management Studies students to educate them about the key risk factors of cancer and the importance of early detection at JGI Knowledge Campus.
During the session, the first key speaker Ms. Sujatha Krishnaswamy, Fellow Chartered Accountant enlightened the audience on hosting cyclothons, walkathons and other community programs like Relay for Life to spread the word. The second key speaker Dr. Shabnam Bashir Zeeshan, an Associate Consultant Oncosurgery - Colorectal & Breast Cancer Surgeon at Apollo Hospitals highlighted that Higher the Body Mass Index of people means higher the risk of cancer and females need to maintain their health as the 'estrogen' hormone after menopause gets converted into fatty cell. She also insisted the use of copper vessels/ stainless steel/glassware instead of plastics as plastics react with the food with the increase in the temperature, which can lead to the generation of carcinogenic elements. The final key speaker Dr. Punith Shetty who has done his MDS in Public Health, Community Oncologist introduced BMS students to the harmful effects of chewing /smoking tobacco and gave a detailed explanation on how to self-examine ourselves against oral cancer. He explained Tobacco is a most important risk factor for various types of cancer as well as some no communicable disease. Around 34.6% of Indian population consume tobacco. The tobacco consumption is higher in some vulnerable population such as drivers, daily wage laborers, and its consumption is known to cause oral cancers, and screening for oral cancer in these individuals is known to reduce mortality from cancer.
The entire session proved to be extremely knowledgeable and useful against battling cancer and raising the awareness.
