HUNDREDS of cancer patients will be diagnosed and treated locally, thanks to a community campaign headed by the Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation.
The Foundation has instigated the ‘Show us ya guts’ campaign, following a call for specialised equipment from Cairns Hospital’s endoscopy team.
The equipment sought will be for the diagnosis and treatment of small bowel, pancreas, bile duct, oesophagus, stomach and oesophagus ulcers, polyps and tumours.
Cairns Hospital director of medicine Dr Peter Boyd said when the new equipment arrives, he believed this would be the second hospital in Queensland to provide this service.
“I’ve been working in endoscopy for 25 years and I believe once we start this service, the demand will actually be four times what we think it is currently,” Dr Boyd said.
“We know that no matter what health condition, people from the Cape will come to Cairns for treatment, but they just won’t travel further – even if it means they die as a result,” he said.
“We’re actually already performing more procedures than Townsville by about 20 a week and we are doing that because we have a nurse endoscopist, we run two evening lists a week and we manage our own sedation,” he said.
“All our specialists are excellent in their field, but one in particular – Dr Mohd Kahn, previously was the director of a hospital in Saudi Arabia – he really is an expert in the field of oesophageal manometry and we are incredibly lucky to have him here.”
Foundation chairman Dr Ken Chapman said for a relatively small investment, hundreds of people would be able to be diagnosed and treated locally, rather than having to travel to Brisbane.
“The team are asking for several key pieces of endoscopic equipment to help facilitate this work,” Dr Chapman said. “For a relatively small investment of $409, 000, almost overnight this unit will be lifted to tertiary level, which we need to happen across the hospital,” he said.
“They have some incredible clinicians here, including an oesophageal expert from Saudi Arabia, one of only five nurse endoscopists in the state and we want to give them the equipment to treat more people, more quickly,” he said.
The breakdown is $98, 000 for oesophageal manometry (measuring waves) and pH studies, two balloon enteroscopes at a cost of $120, 000 and Olympus radial and linear probes at a total cost of $190, 000.
The campaign has been headed by media organisations across the city, with ABC Far North presenter Kier Shorey, Cairns Post general manager Andy Reeves, 4CA presenters John MacKenzie and Murray Jones, and Star 102.7’s Dave Warner.
Vital stats
• Demand for endoscopy services in FNQ is increasing by at least 10pc a year
• More than 25 endoscopy procedures are performed at Cairns Hospital each day
• About 8200 endoscopic cases were dealt with throughout the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service in 2017-18 (CHHHS annual report)
• Demand is expected to increase to 8400 in the current financial year, with an extra 1000 cases each year after that (CHHHS annual report)
• About one in 23 people will be diagnosed with bowel cancer in their lifetime
• Bowel cancer is the second-most diagnosed cancer in FNQ for both men and women (after prostate and breast cancer)*
• 167 bowel cancer diagnoses in FNQ each year, 57 die each year*
To donate visit HERE.
• *Source: Cancer Council Queensland 2007-2011
Photos: Foundation CEO Tony Franz, Cairns Hospital director of medicine Dr Peter Boyd, Foundation chairman Dr Ken Chapman.
Above: Local media representatives Kier Shorey (lying down), Murray Jones, Andy Reeves, John MacKenzie and Dave Warner are prepared to help champion the cause.
