11. Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Hunua) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
What recent announcements has the Government made with respect to a bowel cancer screening pilot for New Zealanders?
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Immigration) Link to this
In the recent Budget, the Government announced a bowel cancer screening pilot costing $24 million over the next 4 years. Bowel cancer is the second-highest cause of cancer death in New Zealand. In 2007 almost 3,000 people were diagnosed with bowel cancer and 1,252 people died from the disease. A nationwide bowel cancer screening programme could over time reduce the death rate by up to 36 percent, saving up to 270 lives per year.
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN Link to this
This pilot will give us a clear idea of the sector’s ability to do the required colonoscopies in the future, and the costs and benefits of rolling out a full national bowel cancer screening programme. Requests for proposal are about to be issued, and the programme should be up and running in 2011. It will cover a minimum of 60,000 people aged 50 to 74, and I note that the previous Labour Government, despite having 9 years and plenty of money to institute this programme, never got around to doing this.