Photo: RNZ / LUKE MCPAKE
This story has been updated to clarify details around the submission and petition.
A submission that builds on a 100,000-signature petition and calls for the head of Pharmac to be sacked has been presented to Parliament's health select committee.
The petition demanding an overhaul of the state drug-buying agency was delivered to the Parliament in May 2021.
Petition organiser and chairperson of Patient Voice Aotearoa, Malcolm Mulholland, said the submission outlines a number of changes they would like including a reform of Pharmac and a doubling of its budget.
Mulholland said ordinarily they would email through the submission, but decided to deliver it personally as it includes photos of 62 people who died and did not have access to publicly funded cancer medication which could have prolonged their life.
The submission contains the photos of 62 cancer patients who have passed away and who were unable to access a publicly funded medicine that would have prolonged their lives. Photo: Supplied / Patient Voice Aotearoa
He said the photos are of people who have been in contact with Patient Voice Aotearoa since it was formed in 2018 or whose families have been in contact with the group on their behalf.
One of the photos is of Malcolm Mulholland's wife, Wiki, who died in 2021 from breast cancer.
He said the the submission highlights the lack of funding that Pharmac receives by documenting the 132 proposals that Pharmac wants to fund if they had the available budget now.
Mulholland said the final part of the submission was a plea to replace the chief executive of pharmac, Sarah Fitt.
"She is no longer fit for the role...We want a change in culture, a change in the way Pharmac operates, none of us have confidence that she is the right person to see that transformation happen."
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