'Get outraged,' says cancer expert

New Zealanders need to get angry about a dismal failure to plan for the rocketing burden of cancer, says a Christchurch cancer expert.

The Christchurch Hospital clinical director of oncology, Associate Professor Chris Atkinson, said with cancer cases forecast to jump up to 50 per cent by 2011, the lack of co-ordinated cancer treatment was disturbing.

"We must get outraged. We can't stand up in front of an international forum with this data and feel proud."

Professor Atkinson told a New Zealand Society of Oncology conference that while the country was not doing badly treating cancer, studies showed much room for improvement. A recent Commonwealth Fund report placed New Zealand near the bottom in cancer survival rates.

Problems included a dire lack of staff specialising in oncology, especially among Maori, shortage of research funding and problems acquiring drugs and equipment.

- NZPA