National MP Jackie Blue says mastectomy rates in New Zealand are high because women choose surgery rather than face delays getting radiation therapy.
Dr Blue, a former breast cancer doctor, was questioning Health Minister Pete Hodgson in Parliament yesterday.
She asked: "When will the Government realise that, despiteits own rhetoric, staff shortages and growing waiting lists are making some women choose to have their breast removed rather than wait and wait for radiation therapy?"
Mr Hodgson said he did not know if women were choosing mastectomies because of waiting times.
"The member is suggesting that, because there is a shortage of radiation therapy, that women are proactively changing their choice as to the type of treatment they have.
"I can't say if that is or is not happening. What I can say is that about 2000 or 2500 people in Auckland each year receive radiation therapy and 30 have been offered radiation therapy in Australia."
On Tuesday Mr Hodgson said that Wellington's Capital and Coast District Health Board was looking at sending some patients to Australia.
Dr Blue's comments come as 250 radiographers around the country plan to go on strike for nine days from tomorrow over pay.
The MP also said preliminary results of a survey of eight district health boards found that among about 2000 women the mastectomy rate was 55 per cent and of those only 19 per cent had breast reconstructions.
A review of 1500 women treated at an Auckland private breast clinic over five years recorded 21 per cent and 70 per cent respectively.
Dr Blue said breast screening should see a reduction in mastectomies, not the opposite.
At the Auckland health board the rate had increased from 44 per cent in 2001 to 59 per cent this year.
She said there were many reasons for making the decision but the current climate would have an effect.
Mr Hodgson said industrial action by radiation therapists was leading to delays at some treatment centres.
He said that, under reforms introduced by the Labour-led Government, health boards and unions were legally required to provide life-preserving services during strikes.
