Pink Caravan continues free breast cancer screenings on Day 3

The Higher Steering Committee of the Pink Caravan Ride has cancelled the third day ride (March 9th), because of the heavy rains, ensuring the safety of the whole team and the community members. However, the six edition of the Pink Caravan Ride has continued its mission of spreading its message of awareness and providing free screenings to people across the country.

The mobile mammography clinic at Khorfakkan Hospital and the fixed clinics at Al Thamid Clinics and Fujairah Hospital received on Wednesday a moderate response by women and men. 

Demographical analysis of screened people on the third day shows that the mobile and stationary clinics offered free breast cancer examinations for (348) persons, including (61) men and (287) women, bringing the total number of examined people in three days to (1421), of whom (486) were referred for mammogram screenings, and (120) were referred for further ultrasound examinations to ensure their safety.

Although the ride, set to kick off from City Centre Fujairah on Wednesday's morning, heading to Oceanic Khorfakkan Resort, was cancelled, the riders visited the Khorfakkan and Fujairah hospitals, and Oceanic Resort, where they participated alongside the medical teams in conducting awareness workshops. 

HE Ameera BinKaram, Founding Member and President of the Board of Directors of Friends of Cancer Patients society (FOCP), Chairperson of the Pink Caravan’s Higher Steering Committee said, said: "Safety always comes first, due to heavy rains that blessed our beloved country, we decided to cancel the third day ride in a temporary move that aims to ensure the safety of our riders, volunteers and horses whose safety comes above any other considerations."

She added: "As we are committed to our team’s well-being, safety training focusing on dealing with emergencies was held before the ride. A first aid training workshop was conducted to the whole Pink Caravan team, including riders, committee members, FoCP staff, volunteers and the logistics team in collaboration with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Academic Medical Centre to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all taking part in the 2016 ride. Additionally, a medical training day on February 27 was conducted to the medical team."

BinKaram thanked the whole team of riders, volunteers, and medical staff, for their dedication to spread the Pink Caravan’s message of lifesaving by raising awareness about breast cancer, providing free screenings to the public and answering inquiries despite the extreme weather. She also thanked the riders who insisted to stay to continue their mission by visiting hospitals and medical clinics where they took memorable photos with visitors and medical teams there. 

The Pink Caravan initiative is calling for the UAE community, both women and men, to take advantage of the free medical services offered at its clinics, and to contribute to the fight against breast cancer, through encouraging their family and friends to undergo these free examinations. Medical studies show that early detection is the key to fighting breast cancer as 98% of early detected breast cancer cases can be treated and completely cured.

The initiative, in its sixth’s anniversary and concluding on March 17, is held under the slogan “Soldiers of Pink Hope” and aims to spread awareness about breast cancer and the importance of early detection, as well as it conducts free breast cancer clinical examinations and screenings in certain fixed and mobile clinics across the UAE.

The Pink Caravan initiative receives the generous patronage of His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, and the close follow-up of his wife, Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Founder and Royal Patron of the Friends of Cancer Patients (FoCP), International Ambassador of the World Cancer Declaration for Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and International Ambassador for Childhood Cancer for UICC. 

Pink Caravan's medical team partners strategically with the Princess Grace Hospital in the United Kingdom, one of the most important multidisciplinary and best equipped hospitals in London. The hospital has a team of highly qualified doctors and surgeons, including a consultant radiologist who joined this year's ride to read the preliminary results of mammograms.