$6 Kit a Lifesaver

From: Leader Newspaper Glen Eira Moorabbin

Date: 23 May 2007

MOORABBIN residents aged over 40 are being encouraged to combat a deadly disease with a $6 test kit.

The Moorleigh Moorabbin Rotary Club has joined forces with five local pharmacies to provide the Bowelscreen program with take-home test kits to screen for early signs of bowel cancer.

The club's community director Geoff Gray said there was a need for the service.

"It is critical for people over 40, who should be doing this on a regular basis," Mr Gray said.

Rotary's Bowelscreen program co-ordinator Ian Coleman said the program was designed to raise awareness of the disease.

"With early detection you've got a 90 per cent chance of getting through it," Mr Coleman said.

The service will be available this month, when Rotary has the resources of a testing laboratory.

Bowel cancer is the most common cancer in Victoria and more than 3400 people are diagnosed each year, the Cancer Council of Victoria records show.

The test kits will be available in five pharmacies in the Moorabbin area - the Moorabbin Pharmacy, Hampton East; Tucker Rd Pharmacy, Bentleigh; McKinnon Pharmacy and Post Office, McKinnon; Barts the Chemist, Moorabbin and Chamran Road Pharmacy, Cheltenham