]Sir, - We are delighted to see an Editorial on the issue of cancer care in Ireland (The Irish Times, December 23rd). We agree that effective preventivemeasures are of critical importance for cancer control in the future. However, patients in our society currently suffering from cancer deserve, as you state, "the best possible treatment services Unfortunately, these do not asyet exist in our country.
The issues that face us are not merely "differences of expert opinion" but reflect real deficiencies and inequities in the provision of care. The Department of Health and Children must be commended for the improvements brought about by the cancer strategy since 1997 and we believe that it is committed tocorrecting the deficiencies and inequities that still exist. We believe that this commitment must be reflected in the following developments.
1. The provision of increased dedicated funding for active cancer treatment in all its facets.
2. The development of full service cancer treatment centres in large regional and academic hospitals. Radiation therapy will have to be developed in thesecentres.
3. Building on the cancer strategy by establishing a national co-ordinating centre to focus on policy, standards of care, education and research.
Testimony to our Government's commitment was the recent signing in Belfast of the memorandum of understanding with the governments of the United States of America and Northern Ireland, which sets out an ambitious collaborative cancer care programme. Irish men and women with cancer will only benefit from this initiative if the developments outlined above are instituted promptly. - Yours,etc..
Dr Desmond Carney, Consultant Medical Oncologist, Dublin.
Dr John Crown, Consultant Medical Oncologist, Dublin.
Prof Peter Daly, Consultant Medical Oncologist, Dublin
Prof Ernest Egan, Consultant Haematologist Galway.
Dr David Fennelly, Consultant Medical Oncologist, Dublin.
Dr Liam Grogan, Consultant Medical Oncologist, Dublin.
Dr Maccon Keane, Consultant Medical Oncologist, Waterford.