FEDERAL and state governments must build an integrated cancer treatment centre in Albury-Wodonga to service a sharp growth already apparent in the number of newly diagnosed patients, say Border cancer specialists.
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Oncologist Dr Craig Underhill said the arrival of 19 new patients at Border Medical Oncology in the past week was not only typical of the time period but also represented the breadth of the catchment from where patients were coming.
About 1400 new cancer patients seek treatment in Albury-Wodonga each year.
Dr Underhill said in addition to three people each from Albury and Wodonga, this week's new patients came from Khancoban, Beechworth, Holbrook, Yarrawonga, Deniliquin, Myrtleford, Benalla, Cobram, Mansfield, Berrigan, Corryong, Goorambat and Moorngag, representing an area with a population of almost 300,000.
"They'll keep coming and that means they'll be treated in the corridor rather than a centre and it means they'll continue to have to drive around Albury and Wodonga to access services," he said.
His colleague, Dr Christopher Steer, said there was no additional capacity for the treatment of the growing number of cancer patients in Albury-Wodonga, despite the federal government's provision of $5 million for a PET-CT scanner and its $1.5 million contribution towards accommodation for patients and carers at Albury.
"It won't increase our treatment capacity," he said.
"The PET scanner will stop some patients from having to travel to Melbourne but there are no additional chemotherapy chairs or beds."
Dr Underhill looked on with mixed feelings when the federal and NSW governments this week opened a $28 million centre at Lismore.
The Lismore centre will feature two linear accelerators, that will provide for the treatment of up to 700 people requiring radiotherapy in the next 12 months, as well as a treatment area for those undergoing chemotherapy.
A former Lismore boy, Dr Underhill said congratulations were deserved for Lismore Base Hospital medical oncologist Dr Adam Boyce and others on the opening of the new centre.
But he said there was more than a touch of irony that he had been among the co-authors of a report that had pushed for the provision of better cancer treatment services in centres including Lismore and Albury-Wodonga.
"In 2003, I helped write a report linking poor cancer outcomes in regional and rural areas with the lack of access to services," Dr Underhill said.
"One of the recommendations of that report was to see the building of about 10 regional cancer centres.
"So while it is fantastic to see these places opening, there is the irony that none of those centres is here."
