2021-07-29 04:35:31 GMT2021-07-29 12:35:31(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
WELLINGTON, July 29 (Xinhua) More than 1,000 New Zealanders have had bowel cancer, New Zealand s second-most-common cause of death from cancer, detected under the government s National Bowel Screening Program, Health Minister Andrew Little said on Thursday.
More than 1,200 New Zealanders died from bowel cancer in 2017. The screening program aims to save lives by catching it early, giving patients a greater chance of survival, Little said in a statement. New Zealand has one of the highest rates of bowel cancer in the developed world and that s why we need this program, he said.
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Paul Cosgrove believes he could have been treated if his bowel cancer was detected earlier. He doesn t want anyone else to struggle to access a colonoscopy.
The Southern District Health Board has publicly apologised for its colonoscopy service delivery failures and committed to fixing it, but patients say they want to know how things will change. Wanaka grandfather Paul Cosgrove has made peace with the fact that he’s living on borrowed time He knows that if his bowel cancer had been detected earlier, it could have been treated. Cosgrove feels let down by the Southern District Health Board.