File Photo (Image Credit: CKPG Today)

By Shuswap MLA Greg Kyllo

Sound Off

SOUND OFF: NDP cancer care crisis deepens

Nov 30, 2023 | 10:30 AM

CANCER IS A DISEASE that cannot wait.

I spoke these words in the Legislature on November 9, when I told the heart-wrenching story of a constituent who was told she would have to wait 17 weeks for critical radiation therapy, well outside the recommended life-saving window of four weeks. All the while, cancer patients and their loved ones must face the daily stress and anxiety of knowing their cancer could be growing.

This woman was forced to spend tens of thousands of dollars to leave the country and access the health care she should have been entitled to here at home in B.C.

This is sadly just one of the many heart-wrenching stories that have shed light on the dire state of our province’s broken healthcare system.

The NDP’s inability to provide adequate, life-saving cancer care to everyone who needs it is having devastating consequences. Waitlists for critical cancer treatments in B.C. have gotten so long that six months ago, the NDP started sending cancer patients to the U.S. for treatment.

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Recently obtained government documents reveal that despite the NDP’s commitment to sending 50 cancer patients a week to the US, they have only managed to send an average of 12 per week over the last six months. This is less than a quarter of the cancer care patients the NDP promised it would help. In total, only 310 patients have started treatment in the U.S., including just 14 from Northern Health and zero from Interior Health.

This program was meant to be a band-aid solution, a stop-gap measure to make up for the NDP’s failure to provide timely cancer care. Frustratingly, the NDP is now failing at their backup plan.

This is especially shocking since the last time B.C. sent cancer care patients to the U.S. was under an NDP government in the 1990s.

While the NDP disappoints on cancer care, hundreds of British Columbians are left on waitlists, with some following the path of my constituent and choosing to self-fund treatment outside of Canada because they simply cannot wait any longer for this government to deliver.

The tragedy isn’t limited to cancer care. We are hearing stories of patients having to call 911 from their hospital beds just to receive care. We are even witnessing burnt-out staff put up signs in hospital waiting rooms saying don’t bother coming to the ER unless you are imminently dying. The stress on our healthcare workers has created a toxic work environment and led to a skyrocketing number of people going on mental health leave.

After seven years of the NDP, British Columbia has the longest walk-in wait times in the country, staff shortages are causing chronic ER closures, and one in five British Columbians don’t have a family doctor.

People are suffering because of this NDP government’s inability to deliver quality, timely health care, and enough is enough.

British Columbians deserve better — and lives depend on it.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.