Medical charity pleads for $200m

Samaritan Fund cannot keep providing expensive drugs to poverty-stricken patients without community help

Legislators will be asked next Monday to support a one-off $200 million government grant to the Samaritan Fund, which helps pay for drugs that patients cannot afford.

This follows a dramatic surge in the number of patients needing life-saving and expensive medicines, including the cancer drug Glivec.

Facing a likely deficit of $302.5 million by 2008, the fund needs the cash injection to keep operating, the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau says in a report.

The fund is usually sustained by charitable donations, but not enough money has been coming in to stay ahead of the rising costs of hi-tech medicines. According to government projections, expenditure will continue to outstrip income.

The Samaritan Fund had only $8.5 million left in 2004-05, against expenditure of $99.2 million to help 3,686 patients, according to the government paper. The previous year, the fund spent $48.7 million for 2,913 patients. This compared with just 617 patients who needed $10.71 million in 1995-96.

'The number of patients needing these [medical] items has increased as our population ages. Another major reason is the inclusion of the drug Glivec as a first-line drug to deal with chronic myeloid leukaemia and gastric cancer,' a government source said.