The Department of Health will receive more than $400,000 in grant funds to establish a Cancer Registry in the Virgin Islands, according to a press release issued Tuesday by the V.I. Department of Health. The grant is one of three Technical Assistance Program (TAP) grants secured by Governor John P. de Jongh Jr., while in Washington, D.C., this week attending the winter meeting of the National Governors Association.
“This is terrific news for us as this means we can take the first steps toward the creation of a cancer registry,” said Commissioner Designee Dr. Mercedes K.C. Dullum. “Once this system is in place, we will be reaching out to healthcare providers to remind them that the reporting of cancer incidences and mortality is mandated by law.”
The Department currently requests such information on its V.I. Notifiable Disease Form, which can be downloaded via its Web site www.healthvi.org.
A cancer registry is an organized system for the collection, storage, management and analysis of data on persons with cancer who have been diagnosed and/or treated at a facility. Medical facilities such as hospitals, doctors’ offices, pathology and laboratories will be expected to send information about cancer cases to the cancer registry, with the main purpose of:
· Establishing and maintaining a cancer incidence reporting system;
· Being an informational resource for the investigation of cancer and its causes;
· Providing information to assist public health officials and agencies in the planning and evaluation of cancer prevention and cancer control programs.
