The Health Minister would not confirm if there will be more investment in medicine for breast cancer sufferers but says an early access fund outside of the Budget is in the works.
Breast Cancer Aotearoa Coalition chairperson Libby Burgess told Newshub on Wednesday if the Government was serious about wellbeing, it had to start investing in medicines.
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Burgess concedes however she wouldn't be surprised if no additional funding gets announced.
Health Minister Dr David Clark would not confirm any additional funding when he appeared on The AM Show, to discuss the Government's 'Wellbeing Budget'.
"We've kicked off work for an early access fund," he said on Thursday morning. "That work is not mature yet. That is an ongoing piece of work.
"We are looking at the new schemes now to see what we can learn from them."
Burgess said they'd like to see the Government stand up and take responsibility.
"What they would need to do to bring us up to the OECD average would actually be to give us five times [more] than the current medicine's budget," she told Newshub.
"We think that, of course there are other things to spend money on in this particular Budget, but we think something that would be a reasonable start would be to at least double the medicine's budget.
"Then, over the next few years, they would need to move on from that level and to continue to keep investing, to give the population a reasonable level of health."
Burgess said there had been little engagement on the issue between Dr Clark and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
"They've been keeping their heads down, so we would be pleasantly surprised if this happens.
"If it doesn't happen - of course we will be very disappointed."
The official Budget announcement will be made at 2pm.
Newshub.
