Cost of health care services in the treatment of cancer.

In the provision of cancer therapy, usage of expensive cancer facilities and deployment of cancer services to the full, the aims and performance of a comprehensive cancer centre have been discussed. Increasing utilization of cancer chemotherapy and its cost have been contrasted with that of radiotherapy. With the current expansion in oncology there is a limit to what the cancer centre can make available within the specific tumour clinic role and for general cancer treatment purposes at other hospitals. It is timely to attempt rationalization of the cancer arrangements peripheral to the centre.