สำนักงานราชบัณทิตยสภา

The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume IV - 2012 3  Dr Kris Chatamra was keen to carry out research and teach young doctors and nurses. Funds were raised to invite leading international clinicians and researchers to offer free seminars, open to any doctor or nurse across the country, so that the best teaching was available to all. International collaborative research relevant to Thai cancer patients was started. Patient support groups were built up to work along side the fi rst ‘breast cancer specialist nurses’, trained at post-graduate level in the UK and the States. Their job is to support new patients through every part of the treatment from diagnosis onwards with factual information and vital psychological support. Quality of care and the treatment of the whole woman are important factors in the QSCBC approach; to this end the centre created a prayer room where patients with faith in their chosen religion could spend quiet time. The walls of the centre are covered with four hundred donated paintings and photographs; live music is also regularly played, to give patients the most positive environment. Men, women and children are all treated at the QSCBC. Some patients come forward too late for diagnosis and consequently pass away. The fi nal stage of the plan to support the QSCBC, is to build a hospice village for the underpriviledged, to convalesce or pass away without pain and with dignity. It is hoped that it will be a self- suf fi cient community, growing a lot of its own rice, fruit and vegetables, on the land already donated in Minburi. It is also hoped that it will be a support to the local community’s economy. One of the national initiatives of the Queen Sirikit Centre for Breast Cancer, is a photographic campaign to educate the Thai public about breast cancer and indeed, cervical cancer. Breast cancer is the leading cancer killer of women in Thailand, with cervical cancer being a close second. A trend is emerging, which shows that breast cancer in Thailand may be a younger woman’s disease, compared to the average age of onset in the West. The aim of the campaign is to dispel the myths about breast cancer and cervical cancer, promoting the main message ‘early detection may save your life’. Each photograph has a written message that is informative about cancer, dispelling myths and giving facts. The imparted information is based upon the questions most asked by patients. The hope is to decrease the fear of breast and cervical cancer that Finola Chatamra