Mayo Deputy Beverley Flynn has backed calls by the Irish Cancer Society for the extension of the BreastCheck screening services to women in the 65 - 69 age category.
She said that recent research figures have shown that the mortality rate from breast cancer in the upper age category was quite high, and needs to be urgently addressed.
" The initial campaign was for the screening of women in the 50 to 64 age category. Now having reached that particular target, the next objective must be the needs of those women in the 65 to 69 age group, It is essential that we now provide the same level of breast screening to the next age cohort, who according to the Society are at high risk of the disease”, she said.
Deputy Flynn added it was the long term aim of the Irish Cancer Society to have BreastCheck extended to women up to age 74.
