Breast cancer patient Wiki Mulholland spoke to Parliament's health select committee in a bid to improve access to life-prolonging drugs. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Breast cancer patient Wiki Mulholland spoke to Parliament's health select committee in a bid to improve access to life-prolonging drugs. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The frustrated husband of a cancer patient says he's considering starting a political party amid delays in Government action.
Malcolm Mulholland's wife, Wiki, has stage-four breast cancer and can't access a drug that could prolog her life by years through drug-buying agency Pharmac.
He's the chair of Patient Voice Aotearoa, a group that's since last year been campaigning for a review of the way the system funds medication for cancers and rare conditions, and increasing its funding.
"Once upon a time we used to pride ourselves on having the best healthcare system in the world. What happened?" he said.
"How anyone can say Pharmac is the envy of the world while we have 120 medicines on their waiting list and people are dying prematurely?"
After two petitions and meeting with a Parliamentary select committee, the father of three now says the group is considering whether to form a political party with the aims of reforming Pharmac to make it more transparent and faster, doubling the drug-buying agency's budget and changing the ways District Health Boards are funded.
"What more are we supposed to do?" Mulholland says.
Malcolm Mulholland and wife Wiki with their kids, Patrick, Molly Rose and Ihaia. Photo / Supplied
For now the group is waiting to see the Government's long-awaited cancer action plan.
A reform of the cancer care system was promised by Labour in opposition and Health Minister David Clark has been mulling a draft for more than a month.
He says the details will be announced in coming weeks.
Mulholland says he hopes the plan will look at Pharmac but is doubtful.
Clark has said the Government won't interfere with the way the independent agency buys its drugs, saying it's a matter for the experts.
But the plan will look at speeding up access to new medicines.
Mulholland says his party would also back an independent cancer agency.
While the idea was also promised by Labour during 2017, Clark has expressed reservations about it in recent months, saying he wants accountability to stay within the Ministry of Health.
But the policy, prompted by a petition by Southland man Blair Vining, has now been picked up by the National Party, along with a promise to give Pharmac $50 million a year specifically for proven cancer drugs.
The amount, Mulholland says, is significantly less than is needed.
"We have been arguing that the Pharmac budget needs to be doubled, knowing that if it was, NZ's medicine spend will still be a third lower than the OECD average," he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters on Monday rubbished National's policy, saying it lacked detail and could compromise Pharmac's ability to negotiate lower prices.
In the 2018 budget, the Government increased Pharmac's funding by more than 13 per cent, from about $870 million to $985 million.
But it's faced Opposition criticism for only adding $10 million extra this year – just over a 1 per cent bump, and short of keeping up with growth.
Pharmac says it adjusted it funding application procedures in 2018 to make it easier to get treatment for rare conditions.
