mmg.com.au

Almost 500 women have had a free breast screen at Echuca's Breastscreen mobile screening service since it opened for appointments in early December.

By January 8, 478 women had visited the service.

The BreastScreen Mobile Screening Service van, which travels across regional Victoria providing free screening services to eligible women, will remain at its High St location in the car park behind Carters until March. 

It has set up a ‘screening scoreboard’ outside the van, which tallies up the number of women screened each week. 

Women in the Rodney electorate have scored well above the state average participation rate of eligible women who underwent breast screening from 2008 to 2010. 

The results, released by BreastScreen Victoria in December, found that 57 per cent of the eligible female population within the Rodney electorate underwent screening in this period, compared to the average 53.8 per cent of eligible women across the rest of the state.

District women in their 50s and 60s are encouraged to have a free screening mammogram every two years, with BreastScreen Victoria aiming to reach a 60 per cent state-wide participation rate by 2015. 

The mobile unit is open from 8am to 3.30pm daily, with about 40 appointments a day.

No doctor’s referral is needed and appointments can be made by phoning 132 050.