Member for Orange Philip Donato MP has scolded the NSW Government for allowing the closure of NSW Health’s BreastScreen service across the State to redeploy their staff for COVID-19 related duties.
“The incidence of breast cancer among women in our community doesn’t cease, so neither should BreastScreen NSW, which is the primary scanning service for early detection,” Phil said.
Breastscreen NSW announced on its website last week that the decision was made to temporarily suspend all routine breast screening services in NSW.
“This is a reckless move that may eventually have grave consequences for a loved mother, daughter, niece or sister we love.
“COVID poses no more risk to staff and patients than that of customers and staff who still go to Bunnings for hardware sup-plies, which is presently allowable in our current restrictions.
“Cancer has no conscience, it isn’t considerate, it has no concept of time – it’s in-discriminate and will continue to harmfully grow if it isn’t detected early enough for medical intervention. One in seven women will develop breast cancer, odds which de-mand an uninterrupted screening service to save that one woman in seven from an avoidable premature death.”
Phil said he had written to the NSW Health Minister requesting him to immediately reverse this decision.