IT WAS encouraging to read in the Oxford Mail of the continued fight for for fairer access to cancer drugs on the NHS in Oxfordshire.

Individuals such as Olivia Dallison and Jenny Wheeler are true inspirations in their determination to see a National Health Service that delivers the best medications for people suffering from cancer.

It troubles me that we live in a world where the financial success of drugs companies comes before delivering a basic quality of care that gives an individual the best chance of survival when ill.

I believe that it is perverse that shareholders healthily line their pockets while people who need treatment are needlessly dying.

This is an absolute disgrace and one that we must never accept.

I understand that drugs companies need to make money for research and development so that new medical discoveries can be advanced, however, the amount that goes into this research compared to the shareholder dividends are highly disproportionate in my view, especially while medications still cannot be accessed by those who so desperately need them.

Maybe it is time that drugs companies took a leaf out of Dr Jonas Salk’s book.

Salk gave the world a vaccine for polio after seven years of research. When asked who owns the patent, Salk replied: “There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?”

It is now time that Prime Minister David Cameron and fellow world leaders make it a priority to address this issue once and for all. We must not allow drugs companies to hold us to ransom for treatments that could preserve life.

The other issue that I find perverse is that when Oxfordshire PCT has meetings to decide whether individuals should receive funding for various treatments, the chair of the meeting is often a medical doctor.

This means that a trained medical professional is partly responsible in the process that possibly denies somebody the right to life. Surely this is against the oath that all doctors take to preserve life?

I just cannot comprehend what would drive a such a person to commit such an inhuman act that could lead to suffering and then unfortunately death for a patient in their care.

My hopes for the future are that, with compassion for others, we can work towards a society where people come before profit and budgets.

I want to thank Olivia, Jenny and campaigner (Oxford Mail columnist) Clive Stone for all their hard work and determination to push for a system that is fair for all.

Because of individuals such as these we can have hope for the future of our NHS.

RICHARD MACKENZIE, Manor Road, Witney