Budget 2024: Cancer patient devastated that Government wont fund new drugs [Video]

By Rowan Quinn of RNZ

A woman living with tumours on her heart says she is devastated the Government has broken its promise to fund 13 new cancer drugs.

The election pledge was left out of Thursday’s Budget, with Finance Minister Nicola Willis saying she regretted that it “hasn’t been possible”.

Vickie Hudson-Craig has melanoma that has spread to her heart and responds to two of the 13 promised medicines – Dabrafenib and Trametinib.

She cried when she heard they would not be funded.

“The injustice that you can make promises like that and then break them with total disregard for life is I think what upsets me the most,” she said.

She remembered the Government’s promise that no New Zealander would need to set up a Givealittle page or mortgage their home to fund the drugs.

“To have that hope just wiped away is just devastating,” she said.

Hudson-Craig is currently paying $5500 a month for the drugs that are keeping …