THE Guyana Cancer Foundation (GCF), led by advocate Bibi Saeedah Akhtar Hassan, has gained membership with the American Cancer Society and is soon to sign a contract in Miami and participate in a training programme.

This development comes at a time when Hassan is celebrating 17 years of being an advocate for cancer patients in Guyana.

“Last October, the Strategic Director for American Cancer Society reached out asking us to be a partner in the Caribbean for American Cancer Society. We had several conversations… and two weeks ago, I received word that they have accepted our membership,” she told the Guyana Chronicle a few days ago.

Hassan said she feels very humbled at achieving 17 years in the field and that she will continue to go the extra mile.

Meanwhile, another milestone for the foundation, according to her, is the meeting it had with representatives of Mount Sinai Hospital out of New York. “They wanted to know what Guyana needs for cancer care and two of the things I advocated for were a low cost radiation therapy and a bone scanning machine.”

She mentioned the latter because she noted that bone scans for patients are not available in Guyana, forcing persons to have to get it done in Trinidad and elsewhere.

Hassan said it is her intention to work along with government to continue to bring relief to women who are in the low-income bracket and who are under-insured and medically underserved.

Her career all started back in 2005 when she was selected to be treasurer to the Avon Community Help Fund and did lots of work raising funds to assist the public with breast cancer screening and such like. Being involved helped Hassan develop a passion for such work and after the ‘Avon Fund’ was dissolved, she took up an opportunity to continue such efforts.

The GCF was eventually registered under the Friendly Society of Guyana as a non-governmental organisation (NGO). With the help of corporate sponsors who came on board, Hassan was able to start her work.

“We’re the prevention people. We believe that early detection helps save lives so we focus on getting women screened for early detection. So our organisation is not in a position to pay for people’s surgeries, but what we can do is help them get screening,” Hassan had explained in a previous interview.

The GCF does referrals to the Oncology Department of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). Apart from those who choose to visit the foundation, the GCF also does outreaches to various communities to be able to find those persons who are in need.