REGINA – A delegation of medical students in the province is calling on the province to sign on to the federal pharmacare program.
Representatives from the Student Medical Society of Saskatchewan were at the Legislature Monday, where later they were scheduled to meet on the issue with Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill.
Khalifa Ihmouda, Government Affairs and Advocacy Representative for the Student Medical Society of Saskatchewan, said it was an issue that urgently needed to be addressed.
"Patients in Saskatchewan are continuing to make difficult decisions as to having to choose to pay for medications or pay for groceries and things like rent. And we think it's time to put an end to that. We're here to urge the government to begin formal negotiations with the federal government over, to bring affordable medications and bring affordable access for things like oral contraceptives and diabetes medications, the same way that many of their do in Manitoba and British Columbia."
Ihmouda believed the province needed to make a more proactive approach because "more than 60 per cent of the allotted $1.5 billion has already been spoken for. And I think the longer we wait as a province, the less money is available on the table. And ultimately, we're not asking the government to spend any money. We're just asking them to claim Saskatchewan's piece of the pie."
He said the money was important to the province because it has the highest prevalence of diabetes in the country, as well as high rates of HIV, and high rates of unwanted pregnancies.
"And so we think if anyone's going to enter negotiations for this, we think it's us. Saskatchewan should be the front runner for this."
Adam Hussain, a second year medical student at the University of Saskatchewan, said as medical students they "see these kinds of issues every day, working in the clinic, working in the hospitals."
"When we don't address these issues, like diabetes, unwanted pregnancies like HIV, ultimately we're leading to more health care costs downstream when we don't address this right now."
In speaking to reporters, Health Minister Cockrill acknowledged pharmacare had been a priority under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government and he had several discussions with Minister Mark Holland at the time on that.
As for whether there would be an avenue to a potential deal that Saskatchewan could sign on to, Cockrill said "I'll be honest, it hasn't been raised by (Health) Minister (Marjorie) Michel at this point. So again, certainly open to those discussions."
He said the last conversation he had with the federal Minister was "really specifically focused on the mental health of men and young boys. I know that's a specific focus for her. We're engaging with Minister Michel on that specific issue."
As for why a pharmacare deal had not gotten done with the previous federal Minister, Cockrill said there was "definitely an anxiety from their side to get a deal done," but said from the province's standpoint it had to actually benefit Saskatchewan patients.
"Unfortunately, we were at a point where it actually would have meant a step back in terms of coverage of some medications. I remember saying to folks in the federal government, I can't go back to my constituency and look my constituents in the eye and say that we're going backwards on coverage of certain medications. I wasn't prepared to do that, so I was looking for an enhancement of our existing coverage."
Cockrill added that if some of those conditions are met, "we'll absolutely reopen the discussion and try to get a good deal for Saskatchewan patients."
NDP Health critic Meara Conway said she was "perplexed" by Minister Cockrill's response, saying it "makes no sense that we're leaving this federal money on the table during basically a public health crisis in these areas."
"I'm just really, really disappointed to hear that this hasn't even come up. Very perplexed to hear the Health minister taking such a passive role. Other provinces have signed on to this deal. What we expect from our Health minister is that he is pursuing this on behalf of the people of Saskatchewan, that he is making this a priority because of the importance."
