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British
Columbia
HOPE —
BC, Lyme and Novy
Family doctor Dr Ernie Murakami, medical director
of the Fraser Health Authority, head of emergency at
Fraser Canyon Hospital, is not backing down from colleagues
who've chastised him for treating a raft of Nova Scotians
for Lyme disease and publicizing the disease. The East
Coast patients sought his advice after seeing up to
10 MDs each and getting as many false diagnoses, from
chronic fatigue to MS to fibromyalgia. "Doctors should
be aware that we are missing the diagnoses," said Dr
Murakami. TJ
Alberta
EDMONTON —
He's a mystery
man Though chronicled extensively during the
last five years, Premier Ralph Klein's so-called 'third
way' healthcare reforms are still short on details.
Albertans are still waiting for an indication of when
they might actually be implemented. Mr Klein says he's
getting feedback from his constituents that they are
open to change, but legislature watchers are howling
for a detailed and clear explanation of the reform plan
and its repercussions. GE
Saskatchewan
SASKATOON —
Help for substance
abuse victims Families and healthcare experts
alike are cheering Saskatchewan's NDP Premier Lorne
Calvert and his government's Project Hope. The plan
will see an extra $10 million in new spending added
for each of the next three years for alcohol and drug
services, bringing the total budget to $33 million.
That's a dramatic jump from the inititial $23 million
budgeted this year by Saskatchewan Health. The wheat
province has the highest alcoholism rates in Canada,
and a growing crystal meth problem. TJ
Manitoba
WINNIPEG —
Manitobans tell docs to get the fog out Dr Susan
Roberecki of Manitoba Health says an intensive Health
Canada review found the bug spray malathion safe to
use in small concentrations to ward off swarms of mosquitoes.
But Manitobans — spurred on by warnings from the
Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
(CAPE) — aren't biting. For their part, local docs
are standing firm. One, pediatrician Barry Bermack,
agrees with Dr Roberecki, saying he sees kids with infected
mosquito bites all the time. "Just like in other medical
things, you have to decide which is worse, treating
or not treating," he said. HA
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Hot
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Ontario
TORONTO —
Docs still declining
A report released by Institute for Clinical Evaluative
Sciences (ICES) presents important new information on
the state of Ontario's primary care, and how the supply
of GPs and FPs has evolved in recent years. The study,
entitled "Supply and Utilization of General Practitioner
and Family Physician Services in Ontario," examines
data from 1993/94 to 2001/02, and reveals the following
trends: the supply of family doctors in Ontario continues
to decline and the family physician workforce is being
redistributed within Ontario. On the positive side,
the physician-to-population ratio in northern Ontario
increased by 6%. JJM
TORONTO
— Natural
health minister With more and more patients enquiring
about alternative medicines, and with just as many mountebanks
and charlatans eager to swindle them, Ontario Health
Minister George Smitherman has announced plans to regulate
acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. Practitioners
are to be certified, and overseen, by a regulatory college.
Minister Smitherman's actions were perhaps inspired
by the recent NEJM study that found top selling Echinacea
to be completely useless in treating or preventing the
common cold. JJM
Quebec
QUEBEC —
Healthy relationship
to money Jacques Menard, who chaired the committee
that produced a recent report on the financing of the
Quebec healthcare system, acknowledges that money issues
in the report have dominated the headlines. Mr Menard's
report, which urges the province to boost the role of
private healthcare to save the public system money,
has sparked heated debate. The "father of Quebec medicare,"
Claude Castonguay, entered the fray with a reminder
that, while balancing the books — and even moving
forward with two-tiered medicine — are all well
and good, the lust for the bottom line shouldn't trample
Quebec's proud history of social justice. DB
Contributors:
Hector Andrews, Simon Biggar, Donna Byers, Lance Davies,
Geoff Everett, Thane Jenkins, Julie J. Mercier, Deana
Stokes Sullivan, and Henrietta Yan.
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