antallergy.org

SUE NAPIER, MHA
Shadow Minister for Health

Shadow Health Minister Sue Napier today called on the State Labor Government to listen to the concerns of many Tasmanians who are allergic to jack jumpers and adopt the State Liberals’ policy to fund immunotherapy treatment for jack jumper allergies.

Mrs Napier said that the world-leading immunotherapy treatment program at the Royal Hobart Hospital is set to end for the original trial participants and additional funding is desperately needed for the program to continue.

“The current doctor responsible for the program, Dr Konrad Blackman, is simply unable to continue to commit significant hours of voluntary time to a program that the State Labor Government does not appear to support,” Mrs Napier said.

“The Tasmanian patients fortunate enough to have been part of the trial have had three years of immunotherapy treatment. But if their treatment is discontinued, they face a 10 per cent risk of redeveloping their allergy, which could in fact cost them their lives.

“And this does not include the thousands of other Tasmanians who are suffer from jack jumper allergy and are desperate to gain access to this ground-breaking treatment.

“Tasmanians who are allergic to jack jumper bites, including many young children, have a life saving treatment almost within their grasp, but the State Labor Government is letting them down through its ‘no-more-funding’ stance.

Mrs Napier said it was not acceptable for the State Labor Government to put lives on the line in this way and to demonstrate such scant regard for world-leading treatment developed here in Tasmania.

“Tasmanian scientists and medical experts have developed a world-leading jack jumper treatment that can save the lives of many Tasmanians and Australians,” Mrs Napier said.

“A clinical trial started in 2002, involving more than 60 Tasmanians, and this demonstrated 100 per cent success at preventing severe reactions and received international recognition when published in The Lancet, the world’s leading and most prestigious medical journal.

“But in 2004, the Lennon Labor Government cut short the project refusing to extend this life-saving treatment to sufferers beyond the original trial participants.

“In April this year the State Liberals announced that a Hidding Liberal Government would fund ongoing immunotherapy treatment for Tasmanians who experience life threatening reactions to jack jumper stings. We urge the State Labor Government to make a similar commitment.

“The State Liberals believe that this world-leading life-saving jack jumper treatment program must not be allowed to end due to Lennon Labor Government penny pinching,” Mrs Napier said.