Happy birthday minister, your gift is in the mail.
When it comes to Australia’s laudable bowel cancer screening program, it’s heartening to know that our nation’s wellness boss cocky is on the job.
Speaking to the good folks of Tasmania on the wireless, Federal Health Minister Mark Butler let it be known that not only did he thoroughly approve of the free poop tests, he was himself celebrating a “bowel cancer birthday” and was eagerly waiting by his mailbox for the arrival of his latest kit.
Having been asked a question on the availability of kits for folks yet to topple the big Five-O, Mr Butler confirmed the tests could indeed be obtained by youngsters upon request.
He further enthused thus: “I’ve got a birthday today and it’s a bowel cancer birthday, so I’ll be waiting by my mailbox, eagerly waiting for that kit to come to me for me to do it again.”
In fact, the minister went on to suggest that kit recipients would be potty not take advantage of the government’s well-meaning generosity.
“But jokes aside [Butt jokes aside, surely – ed], look, it is a really, really important way to save lives,” Mr Butler (or is that Butt-ler?) said.
“Know that if a bowel cancer is detected early, 90% of them can be successfully treated. And this is the easiest way to detect them early. But only about 42% of people who get one of these kits in the mail end up returning it. We really want to see that rate increase,” Mr Butler told Tassie’s SEA FM.
As your Back Page scrawler has mentioned in earlier articles, we ourselves are no stranger to the dark arts of faecal sample collection so we can only applaud the minister’s endorsement and admire his commitment to public health messaging.
What’s more, as we have been heard to say, it’s not often you get a chance to send some crap back in the other direction.
Send your non-faecal samples of wit and wisdom to Holly@medicalrepublic.com.au.
