Plan to save lives from colon cancer ‘shelved’
Eighty per cent of bowel cancers are diagnosed at a late stage and their incidence is rising annually.
Around 1,200 men and 800 women are diagnosed with colon cancer annually and around half of them die from the disease.
Nine months ago the Cancer Prevention Institute asked the department to fund a pilot initiative to test everyone over the age of 50 in the region covered by the South Western Area Health Board. It was hoped the pilot would lead to a national screening programme using a simple but effective ‘card’ test.
Consultant gastroenterologist Dr Deirdre McNamara, who is project leader of the Cancer Prevention Institute based at the Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Dublin, said department officials told her the pilot could not be funded because of a lack of resources.
The non-invasive test, which is user-friendly, detects the disease in faecal samples. Each examination would cost around €3.
Dr McNamara said most of the resources were in place, but additional funding was needed to pay for two additional technicians.
The screening programme had been recommended in the European Code Against Cancer, published in 2003, because of huge evidence that showed the test reduces mortality and reduces the incidence of cancer in the future.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health pointed said the National Cancer Forum had examined the question of screening in great detail, and the new cancer strategy, to be completed in July, would deal with the matter.
