A doctor is set to offer potentially life-saving screening for breast cancer to women unable to afford the scan themselves.

Dr. Ewart Brown said: "October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we decided our contribution would be something concrete which offers a woman the opportunity to be screened, regardless of their ability to pay.'' Dr. Brown said a ten-day telephone poll carried out by his Bermuda Healthcare Services showed a need for the tests, called mammograms.

He said: "It's become clear to us that a significant number of women are not getting mammographies because they can't afford it -- they're uninsured and don't have the money to pay for the service.'' Dr. Brown -- the Progressive Labour Party's Shadow Minister of Human Affairs -- added his decision had been "spurred on'' by the fact that, within the last three weeks, two of his woman patients had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

The X-ray films will be read by the Lahey Clinic in Boston, an associate clinic of Dr. Brown's, at a cut rate.

Dr. Brown said that in North America, one in eight women will develop breast cancer.

And he said: "I wouldn't be surprised, given Bermuda's genetic makeup, if it was even higher here.'' Dr. Brown added, although he stressed he had no statistics on the problem, that his clinical experience on the Island suggested that women got the disease younger in Bermuda.

He said: "I do suspect that women in Bermuda are developing breast cancer at an earlier age than in North America.'' Dr. Brown added that every woman over the age of 35 should have a mammography, with another at 40 and every year after that.

Anyone who feels they qualify should contact Dr. Brown's surgery at The Lane, in Paget.