Patients’ group to push for ‘better access’ to medications
Posted January 19, 2016 7:27 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Do you have enough access to proper prescription medications?
A national patients’ group says too many people are “falling through the cracks” in our pharmacare system and will be pushing provincial health ministers for changes to pharmacare during their annual meeting in Vancouver later this week.
“We need to have patients at the table when they are making decisions about what’s going to affect patients,” says Gail Attara, chair of the Best Medicines Coalition, which wants a focus on “universality, national scope, broad inclusivity, therapeutic options, timely access, and collaboration.”
“Right now, there is not enough access to medications. You can’t get medications right when you need them and you can’t get them right across the country. If you move from one province to another, you might not be eligible to get your medicines that way. There are all kinds of gaps across Canada,” she tells NEWS 1130.
Attara also feels any reforms must involve consultations with “relevant stakeholders” — most notably, the people actually taking the medications.
“When a patient can convey their situation, they can describe what happens when they don’t get the medications they need and the nuances of their disease,” she says.
“What’s happening is we’re not getting broad inclusivity of medications. We’re not getting all the therapeutic options we need because someone in a boardroom says there’s a medication available to treat a disease. But if that medicine doesn’t work for you, you don’t have [another option].”
Attara says the coalition is “encouraged” that the new federal government is showing leadership, but wants to make sure provincial and territorial health ministers “get on track quickly.”
The BMC says a focus on trying to save money is welcome, but argues that the current system of patchwork programs often results in compromised patient care at greater cost to individuals and the health care system.
“Quite simply, no Canadian should be left without the means to obtain medicines that a qualified health care professional has deemed necessary. I am certain that the Ministers share this core belief and that we can all work collaboratively to improve this vital aspect of health care,” says Attara.
