Friends of Medicare and the Alberta Liberals are calling on the provincial government to bring back the Alberta Cancer Board.
Liberal health critic Kevin Taft said with the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary turning away patients, along with the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, it’s time to revive the Alberta Cancer Board.
“Cancer is an illness that will touch virtually every Albertan at some point in their lives, and the current hardship that is being experienced by patients who can’t get the care they need is heartbreaking,” Taft said.
Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky said he is working towards creating solutions for the two main problems plaguing cancer doctors in the province:?Limited space and the consolidation of all four pillars of cancer care — cancer services, research, teaching and training — into one area.
“The vehicle of how that is done isn’t as important as the product. We need to create the solutions, albeit through a different mechanism,” Zwozdesky said.
Taft blames the dissolution of the Alberta Cancer Board for those issues, and Friends of Medicare executive director David Eggen agrees.
“I would support bringing back the board because I think we need people on the ground that are experienced and able to make the right decisions,” Eggen said.
