MILE GULLY, Manchester — With prostate cancer being the leading cause of death among Jamaican men in the cancer category, more males are being encouraged to have regular checks for abnormalities in the prostate.

Speaking at the Mile Gully Health Centre in Manchester on Wednesday, Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton said men need to understand the risks associated with prostate cancer such as erectile dysfunction.

“The best way to examine it is to do a bloodwork, but that only gives you part of the sign of what may be a problem. It is a warning sign. The best examination is the insertion. It is important because in Jamaica prostate cancer is the leading cause of death in our men among the cancer category,” he said.

“If you don’t treat it… it will eventually create a problem that can lead to death. It could eventually lead to a problem where you have to go to surgery and you have to cut it or take it out,” he added.

Dr Tufton said the ministry’s drive to encourage prostate checks falls under its ‘Boss Man’ campaign, which targets men for annual screening for the cancer and to change their perception of medical care.

“Unfortunately, more men decide not to go to the doctor until they are sick. We need more women to go too, but men in particular have a tendency that they must not see a doctor until they are sick,” said Tufton.

“As a matter of a fact, the culture suggests that even when they are sick they still are not going to the doctor. They turn to the bush doctor,” he added.

He said the mindset has been evolving, but there are still challenges in getting some men to ‘Boss Up’.

“… Because what we have found is that our cultural tendencies and behaviour in our Jamaican context, which has evolved overtime, is that as men we are expected to be the kind of macho people,” he said.

He said there is a strong perception among people that men don’t need to get regular checkups.

“The truth is it has not served us well, because when you look at the sick profile of our population and our men and to put it simple how we live overtime and how we eventually become ill and eventually can’t do the things we would like to do anymore, because we lose the strength,” he said.

“A lot of time if we took the time to go to the doctor, to the health centre and have the doctor examine us, when we feel strong, we would have been able to see signs of sickness and be able to correct it before it becomes too late,” he added.

He said bad dietary choices and lifestyle habits have dire consequences.

He added that the consequences can be mitigated once there is early medical intervention.

“Eighty per cent of Jamaicans die, because of the lifestyle that they live. The consumption of salt, sugar, fats, alcohol, tobacco and so we need to get guidance from the doctor,” said Dr Tufton.