'It is awful to tell someone that if they had health insurance they could have these new treatments' - calls to end cancer 'drug divide' in Irish healthcare

"Public patients are being denied ­powerful new cancer drugs which could keep them alive for longer - or in some cases cure them - while these same drugs are available to people who have health insurance, a leading oncologist has warned."

"Dr Michael McCarthy, a cancer specialist in Galway University Hospital, who has long campaigned to end the inequity, is now among a number of senior specialists who are supporting a letter to Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill proposing a co-funded early-access programme."

Public patients in Ireland are being denied powerful new cancer drugs that could prolong life or sometimes cure disease, while those with health insurance receive these treatments. Dr Michael McCarthy, a cancer specialist at Galway University Hospital who has campaigned to end this inequity, is among senior specialists backing a letter to Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill. The letter proposes a co-funded early-access programme intended to provide earlier access to new cancer medicines for public patients and to address the current disparity between insured and public patients in treatment availability.

Read at Independent