Dr. Jens Hassfeld – Gynecologist and Familyman

I spend alot of my work time trying to calm worried patients. Here in Peru the medical circles consistently give phoney diagnoses with the aim at milking as much money as possible from each patient. Thus, many women come to my office with a previous, dubious dianosis of “cervical wounds” or “micro-cysts” or “generalised inflammation”. Usually I can allay their fears with an ultrasound exam and a gynae exam.

Unfortunately here there is a high incidence of cervical cancer. Similar to many developing world countries, this is the most common form of cancer found in Peruvian women. This can be attributed to poor access to preventive medical care. Free pap-smear tests are ineffective because the results often take months to appear. Sadly, I see 2-3 women each month with advanced cervical cancer. The only treatment here is radiation therapy. After spending a week in Lima at an Oncology Hospital I can now give my personal recommendation to these patients to go to this hospital. Hopefully this way the word will spread that there is help available.

Of course, the ideal is to prevent the disease from getting to this stage. At Hospital Diospi Suyana I have begun a “Colposcopy Campaign”. This minimally invasive exam can detect cancer in its early stages. Now I am performing this test on 20-40 patients per day. In the photo included I am seen with one of the patients (after a long working day…..). Jens Hassfeld

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