It's a mere matter of co-ordination, Mr Speaker. [Applause.]
Mr Speaker, many members of this House have lost their lives to cancer; many more will. We all know somebody - a relative or a friend - who has died of cancer.
Worldwide, 10 million people die of cancer every year - 600 000 in the United States alone. One person in 2,8 will have cancer in his lifetime. The scientific paradigm on cancer is wrong and is perhaps the greatest failure of modern science in history. We need to focus our government's attention on the development of new strategies to deal with cancer.
There are treatments for cancer. We have made them illegal. We have created in this country, as in other countries, a legal framework in which only that which has been proven with private money to be effective and safe can be administered to patients. That which cannot make a profit and cannot go through big "pharma" - the conglomerate of pharmaceutical industries - is not made available and is prohibited from being administered to patients, no matter how lifesaving it might be.
Millions of people are going through the hell of being cancer patients. They suffer and die, possibly unnecessarily, because in this country and in other countries the government has not come to the table to fund research and expedite approval of procedures, even where there is no profit to be made.
South Africa was the first country to break the rules with heart transplants. I will be liaising with the Minister. I will be writing to the Minister of Health to plead that we take heed of that historic example. We must establish in this country a centre which can bring together different treatments of cancer. Such treatments exist, because there is no prevention for cancer. There are no condoms for this and, in terms of numbers, cancer is perhaps a greater issue than HIV/Aids. Thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Ambrosini, welcome back. We are delighted to have you back. [Applause.]