New program to reduce cancer cases, improve treatment

Two New Brunswick doctors have been put in charge of building a provincial cancer network.

Health Minister Elvy Robichaud has appointed Dr. Eshwar Kumar of Rothesay and Dr. Rejean Savoie to the task. Their goal is to see fewer people get cancer and provide better care across the province for those who are diagnosed with the disease.

Robichaud says the network will be better than the one proposed 18 months ago because two heads are better than one.

And now that the co-CEOs have been hired, about 20 job postings will go up in the next few days to hire the rest of their cancer-network team.

Robichaud says the strategy they are being hired to develop could reduce the number of new cases of cancer a year in New Brunswick by about 10 per cent. "We could reduce the number of cases per year at about 400 people. And this is quite significant for any New Brunswickers who could be affected by cancer."

Dr. Kumar says he'll judge the success of the strategy by how well it improves access to treatment for people across the province. "Any patient anywhere and their family, the care that they're going to get, and the access to care, the information and the support will be the same.'

New Brunswick is one of only two provinces without a provincial cancer-control program. Kumar and Dr. Rejean Savoie say they plan to use the experience of other jurisdictions to build a better model for New Brunswick.