MINISTER INTERVENES
IT’S hoped a last minute intervention by Health Minister Simon Harris will see a vital life-changing kidney cancer drug given to local cancer fundraiser Peter Milne.
In a statement to this newspaper yesterday (Monday) afternoon, the Department of Health said that the HSE told them that it “expects the treatment to be available from 1 November 2017.”
However when it was put to them that that might be too late for Peter Milne, Minister Harris told this newspaper that “he was aware of the particular circumstances of the case” and “he’d like to see an interim solution found.”
Peter urgently needs the drug Nivolumab to control his kidney cancer.
His wife Bernie Marron said “1st November is six weeks away. Peter can’t be without effective treatment for six weeks.”
“It’s great is available 1st November but we’d be happier if it was available 1st of October,” she said.
Sligo/Leitrim Deputies Tony McLoughlin and Eamon Scanlon raised the matter. A petition is also running on change.org.