Over 5,000 people have signed an online petition calling on St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin to continue employing its only sarcoma specialist after her contract expires next week.

The lives of many patients referred to Dr Alexia Bertuzzi from all over Ireland have been saved through her expertise in this rare form of cancer, a group campaigning for her continued employment said.

Sarcoma is a rare cancer that affects 200 to 250 people in Ireland annually. There are 50 different types, and it is curable if caught early. The group says the best hope for patients is a plan drawn up by a specialist in the disease.

Minister for Health Simon Harris told the Dáil this week Dr Bertuzzi was employed on a locum contract to provide cover for another consultant oncologist who had taken on the role of chair of the Irish clinical oncology research group.

This consultant had now returned to his post in St Vincent’s and “the reason for employing the locum has now ceased”.

“I am assured by the HSE that care for patients undergoing treatment for sarcoma cancer at St Vincent’s Hospital will not be compromised in any way and their management will be provided by one of the hospital’s full-time oncologists.”

He was responding to Fianna Fáil health spokesman Billy Kelleher who said patients felt Dr Bertuzzi’s replacement, while vastly experienced, did not have sarcoma expertise and also had a very busy private practice.

Former Senator Prof John Crown, also an oncologist at St Vincent’s, said he strongly supported the renewal of Dr Bertuzzi’s contract. “This was an unwise decision,” he said.

A spokeswoman for St Vincent’s said: “Patients’ ongoing care and management will be undertaken by the multidisciplinary team in the hospital, which has all of the relevant specialties including surgery, medical oncology, radiation oncology, radiology and pathology for the care of patients with sarcoma and other cancers”.