ME/CFS Society of WA: Federal Health Minister's Unhelpful Response

Eleven months and three reminders after our initial letter to the then Minister for Health and Aging, the Hon. Tony Abbott, we have finally received a response from incumbent Health Minister Nicola Roxon to our proposals for a dramatic overhaul of the current ineffective and inadequate arrangements for the diagnosis and care of people affected by ME/CFS.

The Minister delegated her response to Assistant Secretary Jennie Roe who in her letter of 22 May provides no comfort for the 130,000 + Australian's estimated to be affected by the disease. It appears the current flawed arrangements for describing and diagnosing ME/CFS, existing ineffective and potentially damaging management and treatment techniques and the channeling and waste of research money towards unrelated conditions such as depression are all for the moment to continue unchallenged.

The Assistant Secretary's letter, couched in bureaucratic and even at times political jargon and obfuscation, fails to address any of the specific and very actionable proposals offered by your Society. The Society will be responding to the Assistant Secretary's letter in due course highlighting the inadequacies inherent in her current response.

You can read the Health Minister's full response by clicking here.

You can read our original letter to the then (August 2007) Minister of Health, the Hon. Tony Abbott here.