Justine Smyth, Chair of Breast Cancer Foundation NZ, said: “This Budget has let down the women of New Zealand by overlooking the enormous breast screening backlog that is preventing 50,000 women from getting their mammograms. It makes no sense that a Budget that was supposed to ‘accelerate the recovery and rebuild from the impacts of Covid-19’ fails to address an issue that is so crucial to the wellbeing of Kiwi women.

“With no plan on how Government will clear the backlog urgently, we fear for the hundreds of women who could end up with harder to treat, or worse, untreatable breast cancers. We’ve been raising this issue for over eight months now and to keep ignoring it represents a complete failure by the Government to tackle the leading cause of death for Kiwi women under 65.”

On the $191m for Pharmac’s total medicines budget, Smyth added: “We're also deeply disappointed the Government hasn't listened to our calls, and those of many others, to double Pharmac's budget. Right now, there are 14 unfunded life-saving breast cancer drugs that are widely available in other countries and this Budget won't help the women in NZ who desperately need them.”

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