Pensioners miss out on

Hundreds of pensioners with breast cancer have missed out on subsidised screening, with the Government blaming Covid-19 for delays in expanding the scheme to older women.

An estimated 3300 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, 350 of whom will be aged between 70 and 74 years old.

But plans to extend the national breast-screening scheme, which provides free mammograms every two years for women aged 45 to 69, were scuppered by Covid-19.

‘‘Those women are looking after their grandchildren; they are supporting their families and wha¯ nau. I think we are taking a very short-sighted view. They must believe those lives are worth saving,’’ Breast Cancer Foundation chief executive Evangelia Henderson said.

‘‘I understand it’s been a tough year, but we want this to be brought back to the table and put back on the agenda because women at the age of 70 still have a very long life ahead of them.’’

The foundation petitioned Parliament to extend the programme to older woman in 2016 and the Government committed to extending the age of eligibility in 2017.

However, speaking in Parliament in May, then-health minister David Clark said it could no longer afford expansion in Budget 2020 because of the extra costs of Covid-19. ‘‘Extending the age for breast screening will be revisited as conditions allow.’’

Henderson said increasing the age range would only mean an extra two screenings per woman.

‘‘Now they are saying they don’t have enough capacity in their screening unit to cover this extra population. They don’t have enough mammogram machines or staff to cope . . . But the earlier you get it, the cheaper it is to treat and the better the outcome.’’