A leading oncologist has warned that public patients are being denied ­powerful new cancer drugs which could keep them alive for longer or in some cases, cure them, while these same drugs are available to people who have health insurance. The oncologist in question, Dr. Michael McCarthy, a cancer specialist in Galway University Hospital, who has long campaigned to end the inequity, is now among a number of senior specialists who are supporting a letter to Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill proposing a co-funded early-access programme. 

Dr. Michael McCarthy, Consultant Oncologist at Galway University Hospital, joined Pat Kenny on the show.