A major event occurred last summer in Sudbury. For the first time in Ontario a clinic to provide medical care was organized and is led by “Registered Nurses in the Extended Class” or commonly now known as Nurse Practitioners (NPs). Doctors are consulted as required, and in the clinic in Sudbury are present 14-15 hours Continue Reading
The players in the health care system are the politicians, the public, the health care professions, and the companies that provide the ancillary services that allow the system to operate. The PoliticiansThe politicians are interested first and foremost in getting re-elected They start every project with the best of intentions but after they have consulted Continue Reading
There is a hidden continuing battle in the Canadian pharmaceutical industry. It pits Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (mostly international and trade-name companies) against the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association (CGPA). The CGPA are companies that produce pharmaceuticals after the patent has expired. The battle also involves the Food and Drug Directorate, whose mandate is to supervise Continue Reading
As a pharmacist, now retired, who practiced my profession for 45 years, most of the time as president of a small chain of prescription pharmacies called Vanguard Drug Mart, I can unequivocally state that the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care under the leadership of George Smitherman, has completely caved in to the research-based Continue Reading
Timid politicians block meaningful changes in the delivery of Health Care. The major preoccupation for all politicians is to get elected and then re-elected. Everything politicians do is measured in terms of how it affects their chances in the coming elections. Governments, both provincial and federal are involved in many issues, such as soft-wood lumber, Continue Reading
I have often wondered why, when I meet a homeless person or beggar in the streets of Toronto, with his or her hand out for money, I give to some and by-pass others trying desperately to avoid eye- contact with the latter .If you do make eye-contact it is much more difficult to avoid helping, Continue Reading