Senator Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania) presented a speech in the Senate calling for increased government support for genetic screening for haemochromatosis. Haemochromatosis Australia and our medical advisors recently met with Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash to make that case.
The Senator points out in her speech “why not make the subsidy for genetic testing of haemochromatosis more widely available when it has the potential not only to prevent serious illness but to save our health system money? I am not exaggerating when I say that the detection and prevention of hereditary haemochromatosis could save lives.”
Thank you for your support Senator Bilyk.
We are working to gather more support for the proposal.
Haemochromatosis Australia President Ben Marris said ’Haemochromatosis is easy to detect and simple to treat. An inexpensive test can change a person’s life away from all the complications of iron overload to become a healthy, regular blood donor. I would challenge anyone to demonstrate that there is an equivalent, modest investment in our national health that would produce so much benefit for so many people. Haemochromatosis is a condition whose time has come – screening should be available for everyone, now.”
Read the full speech from Hansard 25 November 2014 here.