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News
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Alzheimer patients deserve more respect from government October 5, 2006 |
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Yvonne Jones, Opposition Health and Community Services Critic and MHA for
the District of Cartwright-L’Anse au Clair, says it is disgusting that
government could foster a double standard in the dispensing of Alzheimer
drugs. Jones was referencing complaints she is receiving from families of Alzheimer patients who believe government is stonewalling and delaying the provision of these medications. She says many patients are still required to pay for the drugs because of government’s red tape and this may continue well into the future. "While patients were paying for these expensive drugs, any licenced physician in the province could prescribe the medication," said Ms. Jones. "Now, because the government is footing the bill, only those physicians certified through a course offered by the province can prescribe the drugs. If a family doctor has not done this course, even though they can still prescribe the medication, government will not cover the cost of the drugs. In rural communities, where doctors are in short supply, there is no other option but to continue seeing their family physician and pay for their own drug costs. "It is obvious that government’s decision to fund Alzheimer drugs was a reluctant one. First, they delayed the availability of the drug by 6 months after the announcement, then they required patients to go through a special authorization process in the Department of Health. After these delays, they restricted the number of doctors across the province that could prescribe the drug. If government was serious about providing access to these medications, why not provide equal access to all Alzheimer patients? "These are shameful actions by a government that is failing people in need of this drug. Many of these patients live below the poverty line and government should be eliminating the financial road blocks to this medication. Instead of creating new ways of discouraging people from accessing these desperately needed medications, the system should be improved to make it an easy process. Alzheimer patients suffer enough from their illness, they do not need the added stress of an uncaring system."
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