Bowel cancer screening for over 55s introduced from 2013

Adults aged 55 to 75 will be tested for bowel cancer from 2013 in a move which health minister Edith Schippers thinks will halve the death rate.


In total, 4.4 million people will be tested. The health council said in 2009 that testing should be carried out every two years.
At the moment, some 5,000 people die of bowel cancer a year and 12,000 people are diagnosed with the disease. The earlier it is identified, the earlier it is to treat, the minister said.
Schippers’ predecessor Ab Klink had said screening could only be introduced from 2019 because of the shortage of doctors and the high cost.

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