The flawed "nineteenth century" Australian health system is neglecting one third of Australians cancer patients.

A new report by Rare Cancers Australia has uncovered a deadly discrepancy in the funding of cancer treatment and research in Australia that has left patients with rare and less common forms of the disease forced to self-fund treatment or go without.

The same proportion of Australians die from rare and uncommon cancers as common cancers, but the levels of funding for treatment and research are skewed.

Just 15 per cent of the total PBS cancer spend is allocated to rare and less common cancers whereas about 24 per cent is allocated to breast cancer alone.

Garvan Institute Professor David Thomas said the scale of this unmet need was too large to ignore and the essential problems lay with how cancer was classified.

"Our health system is geared to a nineteenth century model of cancer classification," he said.

"Such a dry topic as classification can have such far reaching consequences."

For more details, go to: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/rare-cancer-australia-report-a-deadly-discrepancy-in-cancer-care-20150622-ghu68r.html