It was reported on the news last week that our counterparts overseas who suffer prostate cancer survive at a longer and better rate than we do.
Well I am not surprised after hearing from a friend in Wellington yesterday who informed me he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and has been waiting four months to see a specialist at the hospital.
This man cannot afford to go private, nor could he afford insurance, so he has to wait. One wonders how long he will have to wait for any follow up treatment after seeing the specialist.
Such lengthy waits are not acceptable in Mr Key's ‘rock star economy'. If the rest of the world are doing better than us in health care with less than a rock star economy, then
we, and especially the Minister of Heath, should be ashamed of our health system allowing such delays to exist.

Alastair Bourne, Bethlehem