Cervical screening performed and reported to you by Dr. Kunda Shahane — MBBS · MS (Obs & Gynae) · FIFM · FMF (London). She takes the smear herself, explains the report herself, and performs the colposcopy herself if one is needed.
The short answer
A Pap smear is a screening test that collects cells from the surface of the cervix so a laboratory can look for changes that could become cervical cancer if left alone. It is not a test for cancer you already have; it is a test for changes that come years before cancer, at a stage where they can be treated and the cancer never happens. In India, screening is advised from age 21, with a Pap test every three years between 30 and 65, extending to five years if an HPV test is done alongside it. At Mayflower Fetal Medicine & High-Risk Pregnancy Centre in Dhantoli, Dr. Kunda Shahane performs the examination herself and, if the report is abnormal, performs the colposcopy herself as well.
Cervical screening is usually split across three people: someone takes the sample, a laboratory reports it, and a third person decides what to do about it. Dr. Kunda Shahane is an obstetrician-gynaecologist with 20+ years in medicine and 14+ years in fetal medicine, and she works as the treating clinician rather than as a sampler. She examines the cervix while the speculum is in, which sometimes matters more than the slide; she reads the report against what she saw; and she carries out the next step herself. You are not handed a piece of paper and a referral.
At a glance
Choosing the test
Women in Nagpur are offered all three, in different places, often without being told how they differ. They are not interchangeable, and knowing which one you actually had is the difference between being screened and thinking you were screened.
| Test | What it looks for | Where it is normally used | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pap smear (cervical cytology) | Abnormal cells already present on the cervix | Clinic-based screening; the standard opportunistic test in Indian private practice | Every 3 years, ages 30–65 |
| HPV DNA test | The virus that causes almost all cervical cancer, before cells change | WHO’s recommended primary screening test from age 30 | Every 5–10 years; 5 years when combined with a Pap |
| VIA (visual inspection with acetic acid) | Areas of the cervix that turn white after dilute acetic acid is applied | India’s public programme, free at Ayushman Arogya Mandirs for women aged 30–65 | Once every 5 years |
| Colposcopy | Not a screening test — a magnified examination done because a screen was abnormal | After an abnormal Pap, HPV or VIA result | As indicated |
If you have already had a free VIA at a government centre and it was normal, that counts as screening and you do not need to repeat it privately on the same schedule. If it was reported as positive, that is a referral for further assessment, not a diagnosis of cancer — bring the slip and we will take it from there.
Who and how often
ICMR’s cancer prevention institute puts the age of initiation at 21 for women who have been sexually active. Cytology alone is used in this age band. HPV infection is very common in the twenties and clears on its own in most women, which is why HPV testing is not used as a screening test here — it would flag infections that were never going to matter.
A Pap test every three years, or every five years if an HPV test is done with it. The WHO’s 2021 guideline goes further and makes HPV DNA the preferred primary test from 30, repeated every five to ten years. This is the age band where screening prevents the most cancer, and it is also the band where Indian coverage is worst.
The WHO advises starting at 25 rather than 30, and screening every three to five years rather than every five to ten. Immunosuppression from any cause — HIV, transplant medication, long-term steroids — changes the schedule, so tell the doctor about it even if it feels unrelated to a gynaecology visit.
Anyone who has had an abnormal Pap, a positive HPV test, or treatment to the cervix follows a schedule set by that history, not the routine one. This is the group most often lost to follow-up, usually because the woman was told “come back later” without a date. Ask for a date and a reason, and write it down.
Whether screening continues depends on why the uterus was removed and whether the cervix was removed with it. A total hysterectomy for a benign reason, with no history of cervical abnormality, usually ends cervical screening. A hysterectomy that left the cervix, or one done for cervical disease, does not. Bring the operation notes rather than relying on memory.
Bleeding after intercourse, bleeding between periods, bleeding after menopause or a persistent blood-stained discharge is not a reason to book a screening test. It is a reason to be examined now. Screening is for women without symptoms; symptoms need assessment, which is a different appointment with a different purpose.
Two things worth correcting
The commonest version of this we see is a woman who brings a normal sonography report and believes she has been checked for cancer. Ultrasound is a good test for fibroids, ovarian cysts and endometrial thickness, and Dr. Kunda uses it constantly — but it cannot see the cell changes that cervical screening exists to find. The two tests answer different questions and a normal answer to one says nothing about the other.
The visit
Before you come
Honest limits
Screening is screening. It reduces risk substantially; it does not remove it, and no one should be told otherwise.
The counterweight to all of that is scale. Fewer than two women in a hundred aged 30 to 49 in India have ever been screened at all, according to the National Family Health Survey-5, in a country where cervical cancer remains one of the commonest cancers in women. An imperfect test done on schedule is a very long way ahead of no test at all.
If the report is abnormal
Cytology reports use terms that frighten people more than they should. ASCUS, LSIL and HSIL describe degrees of cell change, not stages of cancer. Low-grade changes frequently regress on their own; high-grade changes are the ones worth acting on quickly, and acting on them is precisely how cancer is prevented.
The next step after an abnormal screen is almost always colposcopy — the cervix examined under magnification, with a biopsy taken from any area that looks abnormal. Dr. Kunda performs colposcopy at the same clinic, so the woman who had the smear taken is not sent to a stranger to have it interpreted. Prevention, screening and diagnostic follow-up are three separate steps, and this site keeps them on three separate pages precisely because they are three different appointments: HPV vaccination prevents the infection, the Pap smear finds the change, and colposcopy establishes what the change is.
Dr. Kunda Shahane is an obstetrician-gynaecologist first and a fetal medicine specialist second. That order matters here. She takes the smear, reads the report as the treating clinician rather than as a sampler, performs the colposcopy if one is needed, and manages what follows — including the gynaecological surgery, when it comes to that, at the hospitals in Dhantoli where she is attached. She scans, she manages, and she operates. There is no point in this sequence where you are handed a report and asked to find someone else to explain it.
See the full women’s health and gynaecology service or read Dr. Kunda’s training and credentials.
Cost
The consultation, the smear itself, the laboratory cytology charge, an HPV test if one is added, and a colposcopy if one becomes necessary are charged separately, and what you need is decided at the visit rather than booked in advance. Rather than publish a figure that may not apply to you, we will tell you the current charge for exactly what is planned before anything is done.
Free VIA screening for women aged 30 to 65 is available through Ayushman Arogya Mandirs and government health facilities. If cost is the reason you have not been screened, that route is a real one and worth using.
WhatsApp +91 8087471244 with your age and any previous report, and you will get the current charge and the time needed. No payment is taken to book.
In Dr. Kunda’s words
The most common reason women delay cervical screening is simply, ‘I felt fine.’ But that’s exactly why screening exists. A Pap test or HPV screening shouldn’t wait until symptoms appear. I understand the embarrassment many feel, so I always explain the procedure beforehand and give you plenty of time to ask questions.Dr. Kunda Shahane MBBS · MS (Obs & Gynae) · FIFM · FMF (London)
Questions patients ask
Yes. Dr. Kunda Shahane is a woman gynaecologist. She performs the speculum examination and takes the smear herself — there is no technician and no male doctor involved at any stage of the test. A female attendant is present in the room if you would like one.
Most women describe pressure rather than pain. The speculum is the part you feel; taking the cells with the brush lasts a few seconds and is usually described as a scrape or a cramp that passes. If the examination has been painful for you before, say so at the start — a smaller speculum and a slower examination usually solve it.
The Indian Council of Medical Research's cancer prevention institute advises starting cervical screening at 21 years, with a Pap test every three years from age 30 until 65. If the Pap is combined with an HPV test, the interval can be extended to five years. The World Health Organization's 2021 guideline recommends HPV DNA testing as the primary screening test from age 30, repeated every five to ten years, and from age 25 for women living with HIV. Which of these applies to you is decided at the consultation.
Yes, and that is the whole point of screening. Cervical cell changes that precede cancer cause no symptoms at all, which is why they can only be found by looking for them. By the time bleeding, discharge or pain appear, the situation is different and needs assessment rather than screening. Feeling well is not evidence that the cervix is normal.
No, and this is the most common misunderstanding we correct. An ultrasound looks at the shape and structure of the uterus and ovaries. It does not examine the cells on the surface of the cervix, and a normal ultrasound report says nothing about whether you have been screened for cervical cancer. Only a Pap smear, an HPV test or a visual inspection of the cervix does that.
It is better not to. Blood in the sample makes the slide harder to read and the test may have to be repeated. Anywhere from about ten to twenty days after the first day of your period is a good window. If you are already at the clinic and bleeding, we will examine you, deal with whatever brought you in, and reschedule the smear.
For two days before the smear, avoid vaginal medicines, pessaries, creams, douching and intercourse, as each of these can obscure the cells. No fasting is needed, no injection is given, and you can eat and drive normally before and after. Bring any previous Pap or HPV reports you have.
An abnormal Pap does not mean cancer. It means some cells looked different and need a closer look. Depending on what the report says, the next step is usually a colposcopy — an examination of the cervix under magnification, with a biopsy if an area looks suspicious — or a repeat test after an interval. Dr. Kunda performs colposcopy herself, so you are not sent to a third doctor to find out what your own report meant.
Yes. The vaccine protects against the HPV types responsible for most cervical cancers, but not against every high-risk type, and it does not clear an infection acquired before vaccination. Vaccinated women follow the same screening schedule as everyone else. Vaccination and screening are two different defences and neither replaces the other.
No. A Pap smear examines cells from the cervix and has nothing to do with pregnancy assessment. Separately, and importantly: determination or disclosure of the sex of a fetus is illegal in India under the PCPNDT Act, 1994, and is not done at this centre under any circumstances, by any test.
No, and no test can promise that. Screening substantially lowers the risk by finding changes early enough to treat, but no screening test finds every abnormality, and a normal result covers the moment it was taken rather than the years after it. That is why screening is repeated on a schedule, and why new bleeding, bleeding after intercourse or a persistent discharge should be assessed when they happen rather than waiting for the next due test.
No. Screening is based on age and on whether you have ever been sexually active, not on marital status. Consultations are confidential.
References
Related
Written and medically reviewed by Dr. Kunda Shahane, MBBS, MS (Obs & Gynae), FIFM, FMF (London) · Last reviewed: 31 August 2026
Mayflower Clinic, Surdham Complex, Behind Silver Palace Building, 2nd Lane from Panchsheel Square, Opp. Yashwant Stadium, Dhantoli, Nagpur – 440012. Monday–Saturday, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM · Sunday closed.
Dr. Kunda Shahane is a woman gynaecologist and takes the smear herself. Bring any previous Pap, HPV or biopsy reports.
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