I feel the Minister of Health in Manitoba is “pulling the wool over the eyes of all Manitobans” in the way she has presented about Lucentis now being available to Manitobans at no cost.

To recap, after pressing the minister for action for almost one full year, on March 11, 2010 Minister Theresa Oswald announced that the treatment would finally be free to all Manitobans, but it would be centred out of the Misericordia Hospital.  This would mean the four retinal specialists who perform this treatment in their own clinics, and their patients, would now have to travel to the Misericordia for an injection, which could be done just as easily in the doctors’ offices, with the bill going to the government rather than the patient.   

Why the minister chose to have a centralized program rather than allowing the doctors to continue doing as they were, but simply billing the government, is beyond anybody’s comprehension.  Our coalition told the minister our position on this, but she would not listen.  Our concern was that a “bottleneck” in service would be created, and people would go blind as they have been doing, not because they could not afford the $950 treatment, but because they could not access it.

And now the minister has issued a press release stating:  

"In March, we announced Manitoba Health would be covering Lucentis treatment though the Misericordia Eye Centre of Excellence as of June 1 with the intention of expanding access to other retinal specialists' offices in the future. Today we are pleased to announce that Lucentis is now accessible through doctors' offices ahead of schedule."

I have read and re-read attached the minister’s March 11 News Release and nowhere does it make any reference to having the “intention of expanding access to other retinal specialists’ offices in the future.”

The minister was telling our coalition and patients as late as early May to “discuss eye clinic times with your retinal specialists as further information becomes available to him.”  In May, one patient asked her retinal specialist and he indicated “he knew nothing more than what he read in the newspaper,” which would lead one to believe that after the announcement was made and the program was put in place — with the decision to centre it at the Misericordia — that maybe the retinal specialists had not been part of the planning process at all!

And now the minister tells people she is ahead of schedule!  The program only started on June 1, with no mention of expansion to the doctors’ offices.  And nine days later, the health minister makes an announcement she is ahead of schedule.  What schedule?  What kind of planning is this?  Don’t get me wrong.  I and members of our coalition are thrilled that the minister has finally come to her senses with respect to the way the program is being administered, but I just wish the minister could have been up front and honest with this announcement, and admit she blew it in planning the program. 

I think she underestimated the upheaval this was going to cause for the retinal specialists, as all of the resources which they currently have in their offices, including support staff, client files, computers, etc. (for which they currently pay the full cost) would have to be duplicated at the Misericordia at taxpayers’ expense.  Not to mention the disruption in the lives and schedules of these busy professionals in running back and forth to the Misericordia to do these treatments.

The other sad part is that there are only four retinal specialists in Manitoba and they are all in Winnipeg.  And while it is good news for all Manitobans that the treatment is now free, it still means that rural citizens have to travel to Winnipeg to access it.

As I said, I think the minister has “pulled the wool over the eyes of all Manitobans” with the wording of this exciting announcement.  It seems to me it was “poor planning” rather than “government efficiency” that brought about this change in service delivery.   I guess it would expecting too much for a minister of the Crown to admit making a mistake. 

Dean Cousens

Brandon

(The writer is a member of the Coalition for Lucentis Equality in Manitoba).