Cancer surveys afoot at Kuwaiti ministry of health

The Ministry of Health is contemplating surveys for determining the frequency of such cancers as the prostate for men and colon and lungs for both sexes, said a ministry official on Thursday.
Undersecretary of the ministry Dr. Khalid Al-Sahlawi made that statement in a speech inaugurating a program surveying newborns in Kuwait to help them from contracting hereditary diseases that may impair them physically or mentally.
He said that the ministry was planning to conduct surveys of at least 22 diseases which later maybe expanded to cover 50 more diseases, noting that these surveys would enable health providers at the ministry to head off cases of physical and mental retardation among newborns.
In a similar speech, chief of the department of surveying newborns at the ministry, Dr. Muna Al-Khawari said many diseases afflicting newborns could be cured satisfactorily with the proper brand of baby formula milk or with appropriate vitamins.
Stressing the importance of conducting surveys for newborns, she said it was also beneficial to establish a data bank for these newborns to which health providers can refer if the need required it.
The newborns surveys are targeting, she said, are those aged one to seven days, which currently number about 75,000 in the country, both nationals and expats.