NDP: Liberal government failed cancer patients

This morning in question period, NDP Health Critic France Gélinas continued to push the government for answers about the shortage of urgently-needed cancer medications.

“Carmen Sebastian is a 68-year-old woman who has advanced-stage cancer. She is one of the 100,000 Canadian women who get diagnosed with cancer each year. On Friday, Carmen got a very disturbing voice mail, telling her that there was a province-wide shortage of chemo drugs and her treatment would be delayed indefinitely,” explained Gélinas, MPP for Nickel Belt. “Our health care system failed. It failed people like Carmen, who had her cancer treatments cancelled.”

Earlier this week, Health Minister Eric Hoskins was unable to answer questions from reporters about the shortage, even though the ministry was aware of the issue the week before.

“I cannot imagine the worry and the stress that Carmen and dozens of other patients went through this past weekend,” said Gélinas to the minister. “Carmen has a simple question, and I hope you’ll agree that she deserves an answer: why was there no backup plan to prevent cancer patients like Carmen from having their cancer treatment cancelled?”