A temporary cancer treatment service, set up in Auckland after the Covid-19 pandemic cut off access to a centre in Melbourne, is being made permanent with government funding.
Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Health Minister Andrew Little announced the Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy (PRRT) service at Auckland Hospital would be funded with $1.9 million in the first year and about $1.6m the year after, jointly funded through the Health Ministry, district health boards, the Unicorn Foundation, and cancer control agency Te Aho o Te Kahu.
He said patients had previously travelled to Melbourne to receive the injected radiation treatment, but a small interim service had been set up in Auckland during travel restrictions imposed because of Covid-19.
The funding would allow the service to expand and be made permanent, he said.