About 30 people took part in the Patient Voice Aotearoa-organised demonstration in the Octagon yesterday, one of a series of nationwide demonstrations timed to coincide with the delivery of a 100,000 signature petition to Parliament.
For Dunedin ovarian cancer patient Jane Ludemann, whose own 8900 signature petition calling for the Government to improve outcomes for women with ovarian cancer was presented to Parliament in March, the protest was personal.
"Drug access is a concern we share with pretty much every other cancer and disease group in New Zealand," she said.
"Women with ovarian cancer in New Zealand don’t have access to the treatments women in Australia do, and they are having to go on givealittle or mortgage their houses."
Dunedin protest organiser Camilla Cox said the lives of a huge number of people with diverse medical conditions could be improved if Pharmac widened access to medications.
"If you have cancer, you are either lucky enough to have the drug you needed funded by Pharmac, or you die; if you have spinal muscular atrophy, you emigrate or you die; if you have cystic fibrosis, you die.
The PVA petition calls on the Government to conduct an external reform of Pharmac and to double the budget the agency receives in next week’s Budget.
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Thanks to all those that came out in support yesterday.
It's a farce that in a publicly funded system some tax payers are treated as second class citizens. I was extremely lucky to receive a fully funded treatment plan for both Bowel and Liver cancer, whilst a good mate had to fun his own treatment for Lung Cancer to the tune of 170k. And if anything returns to either of us it may well cost a lot more!
I met other patients and family with lost loved ones who are just asking for a fair go.