CORAL SPRINGS, Fla., July 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- MEI Healthcare Group, a leading provider of healthcare strategies and equipment solutions to medical facilities around the world, announced today that Dr. Karol Sikora has accepted an appointment to the company's board of directors.

By Professor Karol Sikora Can diet and exercise help prevent Britain's most common cancer? And is it really caused by toxins, stress and late childbirth? Professor Karol Sikora debunks the myths - and reports on the latest breakthroughs Breast cancer is now the most common cancer in the UK.

Professor Karol Sikora said the next generation of drugs would keep people alive for longer but they were so expensive they could swallow half of the current NHS budget within four years.He calculated they could cost the NHS 50bn around half the current budget, which tops 100bn.The professor, who is director of Cancer Partners UK, a private provider of cancer services that works with the NHS, came up with the figures for Sky News.He said: "50bn is the equivalent to raising tax by 15p for everybody.

IT is nearly a decade since The Northern Echo campaigned to close the gap between Britain and the rest of Europe with regard to heart bypass waiting times. Across Europe, the average waiting time for bypass surgery was three months. In this country, the average was a year.

By Karol Sikora EVERY day we hear about ground-breaking drug therapies which give patients a chance of fighting a terminal diagnosis. We're also told that our cash-strapped health system is often unable to deliver standard lifesaving treatments, let alone these new, more effective drugs.