Cancer screening procedures in Scotland more effective according to BBC newsreader George Alagiah

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDMar 25 2018

According to BBC newsreader George Alagiah, Scotland has better cancer screening procedures compared to England. Alagiah, a Sri Lankan born journalist, is 62 and is diagnosed with a stage 4 cancer of the bowel that relapsed little before Christmas. He says that his cancer would have been detected much earlier if he were being screened in Scotland rather than in England.

All women and men are offered screening for bowel cancer once in two years after they are 50 years of age in Scotland. According to the Cancer Research UK, this can help detect bowel cancers in their early stages. The chances of survival with bowel cancer diagnosis in early stages are nearly 100 percent compared to a less than 10 percent chance of survival if the cancer has reached stage 4. Alagiah said about his condition that if he were to be screened starting at the age of 50, he would have had at least three or four screenings by the time he was 58 (in April 2014) when the cancer was first detected. He said that his cancer was thus caught very late. He tweeted yesterday, Sunday, “My cancer was caught late, very late. Earlier screening is the key. Simply no reason why others should have to go through all the treatment that I’ve had.”

Alagiah says that when he was 58he started noticing blood in his stools. He got himself tested and the doctors found that his cancer had spread to the liver and lymph nodes. He had to undergo five surgeries to remove large parts of his liver and intestines. He needed several rounds (17 to be exact) of chemotherapy. By 2015 October, he was declared to be in remission and he came back to work at BBC “News at Six” that he has been presenting since 2007. However he relapsed again late last year and is under treatment again.

At present Alagiah is supporting a campaign by Bowel Cancer UK to start screening all the population of England from the age of 50 like Scotland does. According to Bowel Cancer, UK, this cancer is responsible for 16,000 deaths yearly. While lung cancer is the leading killer cancer, bowel cancer comes second. More than 40000 people in the UK are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year says the charity.

Some of the early symptoms of bowel cancer that need to be wary of include blood in stool and via anus, alteration of bowel habits that lasts over three weeks, severe abdominal pain, presence of a dragging sensation or lump in the abdomen and significant fatigue and loss of weight.