Lives will be unnecessarily lost unless the Rudd Government’s first budget includes a permanent commitment to bowel cancer screening that backs up the Prime Minister’s policies on health reform and co-operation with the states, The Cancer Council Australia said today.
Releasing The Cancer Council Australia’s budget submission, Chief Executive Officer Professor Ian Olver said the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program had been hamstrung by protracted federal/state negotiations. “We still have no guarantee the program will continue beyond 2008-09, despite it being a Labor and Coalition election commitment in 2004,” Professor Olver said.
Professor Olver said that with the five-year Australian Health Care Agreements being renewed this year and the new Government committing $2 billion to a National Health Reform Plan, a 2008-09 budget commitment to permanently fund the program was the “best opportunity” Australia would have to prevent up more than 30 bowel cancer deaths a week.
“We enthusiastically welcomed the Prime Minister’s approach to health care reform and his specific commitment to $25 million over three years to screen 50 year-olds for bowel cancer,” Professor Olver said. “Now is the ideal time to build on these initiatives and announce a permanent commitment to the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program.
“It took only five years for the National Breast Screening Program to be fully implemented. So, given that limited screening began in 2006, the federal and state governments should be able to fully implement bowel cancer screening by 2012.”
Professor Olver said as well as saving lives, investment in bowel cancer screening would substantially reduce hospital costs, with treatment of late-stage bowel cancer costing up to 20 times more than removal of precancerous polyps detected through screening.
“More than 12 years have passed since scientific evidence proved bowel cancer screening saves significant numbers of lives. A permanent commitment to bowel cancer screening along the lines of Australia’s successful breast and cervical programs is long overdue.”
The Cancer Council’s budget submission also calls for the abolition of duty-free cigarette sales, re-initiation of the National Tobacco Campaign, a new co-operative approach to rural and remote cancer services and a continuation of the Government’s skin cancer awareness campaign.
Media contact
Glen Turner p. 02 8063 4100 m. 0412 443 212 e. glen.turner@cancer.org.au