Member for Barker Tony Pasin recently held a community forum in a push for a Limestone Coast Cancer Treatment Centre.
Mr Pasin was joined by Icon Cancer Centre Australia chief executive Paul Fenton at the Riddoch Arts and Cultural Centre and discussed the need for a Cancer Treatment Centre in the region.
Icon is Australia’s largest private dedicated oncology provider which delivers comprehensive cancer care across the country.
A key issue addressed at the forum was how to improve access to radiation therapy within the Limestone Coast, as local patients are currently expected to travel to Adelaide or Warrnambool for treatment which is often as short as 15 minutes.
“Needing to travel for treatment is an additional stress that is very much unwanted at such a hard and difficult time,” Mr Pasin said.
“If you were to ask members of the community about what is needed in Mount Gambier, people do not want to be travelling to Adelaide or Warrnambool for months at a time for treatment that takes 15 minutes.
“It is not fair that people in Adelaide get to access these services while they live at home and can undertake treatment and then return to work when people in Mount Gambier and the Limestone Coast need to relocate for months at a time to Adelaide.
“The other part of this equation that is often misunderstood, is a number of people decide not to have the treatment and, as a result, the fatality rate for cancers in regional communities like Mount Gambier are much higher than they are in metropolitan cities.”
In 2019, the former Federal Coalition Government announced the Fighting Cancer – Regional Cancer Treatment Centres for Radiation Therapy program to expand cancer treatment capacity throughout regional Australia by investing in additional health infrastructure.
Public and private service providers were invited to apply for the $45.5m grant program in August 2020 to develop regional radiation treatment centres for local cancer patients in nominated regions, including the Limestone Coast.
In response to this invitation, a grant application for a treatment centre at Mount Gambier was received by the Federal Government.
However, Mr Pasin said this application did not proceed because the South Australian Government did not commit to supporting a service in Mount Gambier.
“It’s incredibly disappointing that our State Government did not see merit in establishing local cancer treatment services in the Limestone Coast,” Mr Pasin said.
“I want a radiation treatment centre here in Mount Gambier like they are going to have in Mildura, like they have in Warrnambool.”
Mr Pasin said he had written to the State and Federal Ministers encouraging both levels of government to commit to delivering a Cancer Treatment Centre, utilising the Federal Government funding that remained available from the 2019 Coalition Government budget.
Mr Pasin said there were huge benefits to bringing cancer treatment closer to home for the health and wellbeing of the community.
“I want to ensure the community is informed on the issue and that State and Federal Government Ministers deliver what was promised,” Mr Pasin said.
“I think this is an opportunity to deliver a radiation treatment centre in Mount Gambier and I will be fighting hard for it.
“I am looking forward to energising the local community to express their wish for these services to be provided.”
