Health Minister Simeon Brown. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Leukaemia and Blood Cancer New Zealand welcomes the government's expansion of stem cell transplant services.
Health Minister Simeon Brown announced it had increased funding by $27.1 million to reduce the waitlist.
In September, RNZ reported some patients had died or relapsed, while waiting for bone marrow transplants.
On Friday, Brown said the investment would allow between 27 to 38 percent more patients to receive treatment for blood cancers and related conditions, increasing the number of treatments from 115 to 160 each year.
He said the money would be used to recruit 79 new full-time staff across the three transplant centres in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and would increase inpatient bed capacity at Auckland City Hospital and Wellington Regional Hospital, as well as upgrade infrastructure at the latter.
"By reducing wait times, expanding specialist capacity and upgrading critical infrastructure, we're ensuring that more New Zealanders receive lifesaving stem cell transplants when they need them."
Leukaemia and Blood Cancer New Zealand chief executive Tim Edmonds told RNZ the investment was much needed.
"It's incredibly distressing for patients waiting for their chance at a cure, knowing that delays increase the risk of their cancer returning and can mean more toxic chemotherapy."
Haematologist Peter Browett, also a professor of pathology and director of the Centre for Cancer Research at the University of Auckland School of Medicine, said it would take some time to reduce the waitlist.
"This is going to require recruitment of staff, training of staff, building of new facilities, so it's going to take months to years to address the problem, but this is the only way that it can be done."
Browett said New Zealand was behind other countries in standard of care and patients were often forced to go offshore for treatment, such as CAR T-cell therapy.
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