Gleneagles Hospital Medini Johor lit its hospital façade with two giant pink ribbons as part of its support of breast cancer awareness month. This was a nationwide effort by all Gleneagles and Pantai Hospitals across 14 locations to get everyone from all walks of life to lend their support and help raise awareness of breast cancer.
The event was launched by Dr Kamal Amzan, CEO of Gleneagles Hospital Medini Johor. He stressed on the importance of routine screenings for early detection that will determine the outcome of treatment plan.
“While we unequivocally support Public Health initiatives to curb the pandemic, we are also cognisant that we shouldn’t lose sight on the importance of early detection when it comes to breast cancer. Efforts to create awareness for early breast cancer detection should not stop because of the immerse potential to save lives. In Malaysia, 1 in every 30 women is at risk to develop breast cancer. So today, we stand in solidarity with our Johor Bahru NGO colleagues, in their fight to create awareness among the Malaysian public on breast cancer. The hospital will be organising Charity Sales with exclusive items up for grabs. To encourage public participation, the hospital will match every ringgit to the funds raised from the sales and channel them to our colleagues in the NGOs.” said Dr Kamal.
The aim for ‘Turn Up The Pink!’ is to create as much awareness and get women to do regular breast self-examinations and come forward for screening. According to the Breast Cancer Foundation Malaysia, nearly 40% of the new cases identified each year were already in the very advanced stages of the disease. Therefore, this campaign is extremely significant in helping the public gain more awareness on signs, symptoms & early detection of breast cancer. Self-examination, early screening, testing and treatment are most important as this will potentially enable a higher chance of survival.
The hospital restricted the event for staff and doctors only to comply with the mandatory social distancing. Staff who attended the event dressed up in pink and danced to the tunes of Zumba before counting down to the projection of 2 Pink Ribbons on its’ building. Meanwhile, in line with ‘Turn Up The Pink!’ as well, other various initiatives throughout this October include educating the public and patients by providing valuable information such as identifying symptoms of breast cancer, tips on breast self-examinations, knowing the options of screening methods, myths surrounding the disease, diagnostic and treatment options of breast cancer and many more via the hospitals’ website at www.gleneagles.com.my/turnupthepink.
In addition, Gleneagles and Pantai hospitals are also organising Malaysia’s First Digital Pink Ribbon through collections of most number of hashtags and captions from everyone in support of this cause.
Every post that uses the hashtags, #GleneaglesWarriors and #PantaiStrongerTogether will be transformed into small digital ‘heart’ icons on the hospitals’ website, which will then be linked together to form a digital pink ribbon. To view the digital pink ribbon, visit the websites mentioned above.
Everyone is urged to show support and raise awareness of breast cancer by posting creative photos of anything pink, post a caption in support of breast cancer awareness onto their Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and hashtag #GleneaglesWarriors or #PantaiStrongerTogether.
To thank everyone who supports and participates in Turns Up The Pink!, participants will also receive a mystery gift (while stocks last) when they show their post at participating hospitals. They will also stand a chance to win one of the five weekly prizes* for most creative photos and captions. Prizes include smart watch, instant camera, wireless earphone, and smart phones.
