Cancer patients waiting too long for stem cell transplants

Some blood cancer patients are a facing a terminal disease prognisis after waiting so long for stem cell transplants their cancer is no longer curable. Piece meal funding and a lack of committment from health officials is to blame according to one specialist. The health minister has conceded the long wait times mean some blood cancer patients are enduring additional rounds of chemotherapy to keep the disease at bay. While others have had to wait so long their only option is palliative care. Director of the Centre for Cancer Research at the University of Auckland School of Medicine Professor Peter Browett spoke to Lisa Owen.