Skin cancer doctors are urging the Government to mandate and fund skin cancer checks for people who have had an organ transplant, due to their heightened risk of developing the disease.
Patients who take anti-rejection immunosuppressant medications after a transplant are up to 500 times more likely than the general population to develop cancer.
These cancers are also more aggressive, more likely to metastasize, and more likely to cause significant illness and death.
But regular screening for skin cancer is not mandatory or funded.
Dr David Hassan is a registered General Practitioner specialising in skin cancer screening and minor surgery.
He has penned an open letter to the Health Minister Simeon Brown urging him to mandate and fund screening, and to make sure the sector is adequately resourced to accommodate appointments, and treatment.
A mole dermoscopy. Photo: AFP / Science Photo Library
