Call for better access to latest cancer treatment drugs

​Leukaemia and Blood Cancer New Zealand is calling on the government to give patients better access to up-to-date medication.

It also wants better funding to allow patients to travel for treatment.

Chief Executive Peter Fergusson says New Zealand ranks at the bottom of the table for cancer treatment.

"Of the 21 OECD countries that we measure ourselves against, we're 21st, and we're 21st by a long way," he told Pacific Mornings. 

"Our spending on health for cancer treatments is so far behind the rest of the world and most worryingly for us is this growing divide in equity, so that those can afford treatment, travel costs, insurance and loss of income and those that can't."

Watch the full interview with Peter Fergusson on Pacific Mornings here.