For immediate release
Toronto, February 7, 2011 – Healthcare providers and allies are condemning the actions of the AQPP (the association representing pharmacy owners in Quebec), which earlier this year called for Quebec pharmacies to refuse medications to those covered under the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP). The AQPP cites unreasonable reimbursement time from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) as the reason for this dangerous move. Health for All, a migrant justice and health organization based in Toronto, is further condemning the Federal government for its continued failure to ensure health care for all refugees and asylum seekers. The IFHP is intended to provide medications to refugees and asylum seekers, the denial of which could have life or death consequences for some of the most vulnerable in our society.
“It is fundamentally unethical as well as unwise to deny access to medications for an already marginalized population,” stated Sarah Reaburn, a registered nurse in Toronto and member of Health for All. Medication costs range from hundreds of dollars for conditions such as diabetes, to thousands for conditions such as HIV, meaning that thousands of refugees and asylum seekers across Quebec will effectively be unable to access their medications. "Stopping such medications due to inability to pay can have serious health consequences such as development of resistant strains of HIV or expensive complications of chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension," says Reaburn.
Health for All believes the AQPP’s actions are merely a symptom of larger problems with the IFHP. Nation-wide, health providers have long raised the concern of reimbursement times. Many of these difficulties arise from having a system for refugees and asylum seekers that is different from the provincial system and is unfamiliar to providers. This has led to denial of service for a number of refugees and asylum seekers.
The administrator of the IFHP in Quebec has recently changed from FAS (Funds Administrative Services) to Medavie Blue Cross, complicating the process of medication coverage for refugees and asylum seekers. Medavie Blue Cross is requiring providers to register with the IFHP to become a licensed provider creating yet another barrier for patients in accessing providers unfamiliar with the IFHP. “It is nonsensical to create a parallel system of health care coverage for this population that many providers are unfamiliar with leading to poor care, if not outright denial of services," says Reaburn. "It would seem most logical to provide provincial health insurance so as to ensure such barriers to access do not occur."
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Brendan Bailey 647-239-3647
Health for All is a multidisciplinary group of migrants, healthcare professionals, students, activists and allies. We believe health is a fundamental human right and a matter of social justice. Health requires not only access to services for maintaining physical and mental health, but requires full economic, social, environmental, and political rights for all people. www.health4all.ca
