By Robert Andre Emmanuel
A year after the closure of the Cancer Centre Eastern Caribbean, the President of Breast Friends, Eunetta Bird, has written to the Minister of Health to reiterate the need to reopen the centre to reduce the financial burden on cancer patients.
The government has been in talks with an investment team led by Dr Joseph John over the sale of the Cancer Centre with the hope of reopening the facility within the next few months.
Speaking on Observer AM yesterday, Bird said that the letter, which was personally delivered to Sir Molwyn Joseph, also called for the government to provide more assistance to financially burdened patients.
“Since the closure of the Cancer Centre, we have been very much overwhelmed with persons having to ask for assistance to help them out with travel costs and so forth and, as you know, Breast Friends is not an organisation with great financial means,” she said.
The centre’s closure means cancer patients in need of radiotherapy in particular must currently travel overseas to receive it. While the government covers the cost of the treatment itself, patients must pay for everything else including flights, accommodation, food, and ground transportation.
Bird said that other requests from the organisation include asking the government to help offset the cost of airline travel, via a means basis, and that travel processing be expedited, especially for patients who have completed chemotherapy treatment.
“Sometimes, persons have to wait too long after their chemotherapy treatment to go on to radiation and the longer you take to complete your treatment, the greater the chance of the cancer progressing to a later stage, and time is of the essence,” she explained.
In a previous interview, Bird stated that an airline ticket could cost patients roughly $5,000 plus accommodations for a six to nine-week treatment period.
Bird said she hoped to receive a response to her letter from the minister within two weeks.
Originally established in June 2015 to serve cancer patients across the OECS, the Cancer Centre Eastern Caribbean provided radiotherapy for both private patients and those covered by the Medical Benefits Scheme.
While private patients could also pay for chemotherapy at the centre, MBS patients had access to chemotherapy for a nominal fee.
The refurbished facility equipped with new and improved machines was anticipated to be operational in the first quarter of this year, according to Cabinet notes issued in January.
Meanwhile, the cancer support group has also launched an online petition, asking the public to put pressure on the government to reopen the Cancer Centre.
“That is our next step: to issue an online petition and we’ll also have some physical [copies] going around to obtain signatures because cancer affects everybody, even though you haven’t had an experience or don’t know someone with it,” Bird explained.
She added that the longer it takes the government to negotiate an agreement to reopen the centre, the more expensive it would be for the investment group to “get it back to the level of operation”.