UCSI students and SCAN members show their ‘No Smoking’ pledge cards.
KUCHING: Sixty students from UCSI University Sarawak signed their personal ‘No Smoking’ pledges during a talk on ‘Lung Cancer’ here recently.
The session, held at the university campus here, was jointly run by UCSI Students Affairs and Alumni Department and the Society for Cancer Advocacy and Awareness Kuching (SCAN) as a way to raise the awareness of lung cancer among the varsity students.
Later during the session, pledge cards were given out to students for them to indicate their personal commitment to not smoke, to quit smoking and/or quit using any tobacco product, as well as to encourage their families, relatives and friends to do the same.
This batch of 60 UCSI Sarawak students is also touted as being the first to sign this kind of pledge card.
Meanwhile, Borneo Medical Centre (BMC)’s resident respiratory consultant Dr Wong Jyi Ling, who delivered the talk, pointed out lung cancer as ‘the deadliest’ of all types of cancer.
“As there are rarely noticeable symptoms in the early stage of lung cancer, early detection is difficult. When lung cancer is diagnosed in a patient, it is usually at a later stage,” said Dr Wong.
Dr Wong also reminded the students that smoking cigarettes could increase the risk of lung cancer 20 times more than other factors.
“The best prevention is to quit smoking, or to never start at all. There are also cancer risks from second-hand smoking (non-smokers who are affected by smoke around them).”
At the end of the talk, the participating students took part in an online quiz where the top-three scorers received prizes.
Meanwhile during a special segment, a SCAN member and cancer survivor Winnie Foo shared with the participants her story of battlling against leukaemia at the young age of 18.
“As my peers embarked on their new phases in life going to universities and building careers, I had to undergo regimes of chemotherapies, medical treatments and hospital stays – facing the uncertainties of life.
“Thanks to successful medical treatments, I am now ready to realise my dream of finishing my undergraduate education, adopting a healthy lifestyle and having a positive outlook,” she said.
SCAN is a registered society that aims to become the unified voice for all cancer patients by improving access to high-quality public healthcare and creating cancer awareness among the public to increase the chance of survival.
SCAN works closely with the government via engagements with healthcare institutions and related agencies, as well as with non-governmental organisations and individuals to achieve its missions.
For more information, visit www.scan.org.my, or search on Facebook via fb.com/scankch.