ROTARY’S long-running annual bowel cancer screening program is on again.
Palm Beach Rotary Club member Mick le-Cocq has placed the kits in half a dozen local pharmacies.
Despite a small price increase to $15, Mr le-Cocq said the test kits have seen an increase in sales in comparison to other years.
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READ NOW“Thanks to long sampling brushes and a more sensitive test, the new system does not require any messy handling,” he said.
Sample cards are no longer returned to the pharmacy; instead, they are posted to the pathology lab for free testing with participants notified of the results.
“Bowelscan is for people who are not showing any signs of bowel cancer,” Mr le-Cocq said.
Anyone who has a direct family history of bowel cancer, who has blood showing in bowel motions or has had any recent changes in bowel habits should talk to their GP immediately.
Around 90 per cent of early cases can be successfully treated; fewer than 40 per cent are detected early in Australia.
Many of the 4000 bowel cancer deaths in Australia each year are preventable.
Rotary’s WA Bowelscan co-ordinator Jeff Cairns was hoping to see more people take advantage of the testing.
“We’ve always looked for ways to get as many people doing it as possible,” he said.
“We now have a test kit where you don’t have to do any special preparation, you don’t have to get too close to anything nasty and you don’t have to take it back to the pharmacy.
“The fewer hurdles to jump over, the more lives we can save. It’s that simple.”
Rotary is providing the $15 kits during May and the pathology testing conducted free of charge by program partner Clinical Genomics.
To be tested users must post their kits back by June 14 at the latest.
Pharmacies selling the kits for Palm Beach Rotary include Superchem Rockingham, Chemmart Chemist, St Clair Pharmacy, Grange Pharmacy, Waikiki Discount Drug Store and Warnbro Pharmacy.