In 2005, German gynaecologist Dr Frank Hoffmann, started his quest for a suitable medical assistant to conduct clinical breast exams for his clinic in Duisburg in Germany. By 2010, he had set up a social enterprise called Discovering Hands that trains blind and visually impaired women to conduct specialised routine breast examinations called tactile breast examinations. Today, Discovering Hands is spread across Germany, Switzerland, Austria and India, training blind and visually impaired women for the role of Medical Tactile Examiners (MTEs) who can offer accurate breast cancer screening with their highly sensitive and trained touch. The first episode in this two-part podcast series is about the problems associated with breast cancer in India and the solution MTEs offer. 

In the episode, hear from Dr. Frank Hoffmann, Meenakshi Gupta, Sonal Prakash, Dr. Mandeep Malhotra, Dr. Kanchan Kaur, Dr. Lily Gutnik, Dr Poovamma CU, Shanti Raghavan, Dr. Vrutika Patel, Asha Sharma and Shashi Menon.

This mini-serires has been reported by Priti Salian and the project was funded by the European Journalism Centre, through the Global Health Security Call. This programme is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Transcript: Blind and visually impaired women are emerging as a workforce in early breast cancer detection part 1.pdf 

References

NAB India Centre for Blind Women & Disability Studies

The burden of cancers and their variations across the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study 1990–2016 - The Lancet Oncology

Breast cancer in India: Present scenario and the challenges ahead - PMC

https://journals.lww.com/jfmpc/Fulltext/2022/11000/Status_of_cancer_screening_in_India__An_alarm.106.aspx

Survival Analysis of Breast Cancer Patients Treated at a Tertiary Care Centre in Southern India - ScienceDirect

Breast cancer in India: Present scenario and the challenges ahead - PMC

Status of cancer screening in India: An alarm signal from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5)