Strong Chch case for transplant unit

Press, 1 May 1978, Page 13

Strong Chch case for transplant unit

By

JOHN BROWN

Christ church is still tipped ns the place for New Zealand’s first bone-marrow transplant unit. The Government has deferred any decision on siting of a unit until a renort is received on Australia’s transplant services, but the case for Christchurch seems much better than for Auckland. Christchurch’s case is based on the Christchurch; Hospital haematology department's staffing being among the strongest in Australia or New Zealand. The addition of only one doctor and two nurses would be required to set up the bone-marrow transplant unit. This emphasis in the North Canterbury Hospital Board’s proposal is that a unit should be small and flexible. It could begin work within three months of the purchase of a 830,000 piece of new equipment. Bone-marrow transplantation is already a proven treatment for aplastic anaemia, and New Zealand has five or six potential transplants each year. But the key to the Christchurch proposal is the expert staff available. This would allow early development of

iiwork being done overseas on • transplantation for other ' diseases. Because a bone-marrow • unit would have this “spin- ; off” in other areas of re- ; search and practical work, > the hospital board is adamant : that it should be set up in ; Christchurch, particularly as • it would be more economic than the larger, more expen* • sive unit proposed for Auckland. A bone-marrow unit in ; Christchurch is estimated to ' cost about $15,000 a transplant, compared with an estimate of $30,000 for Auckland. Experts agree that the cost of setting up the unit in Christchurch — about s94.ooo—is high, but a substantial part of this, $30,000, is for new equipment. Annual running costs after the first vear would be only about $60,000. When the Hospitals’ Advisory Council meets again in June, the North Canterbury board will make it clear that no hospital in Sydney or Melbourne has as many fulltime haematologists as are available in Christchurch. The board has access to trust funds which it could use to set up the unit.