Thank you, Barry.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We know physical distancing is especially important for vulnerable Canadians such as seniors, people with chronic diseases and those who are at particular risk of coming into contact with COVID, which is why it’s critical that we help those people stay at home and why pharmacies have ramped up home medication deliveries in the last few weeks.
In fact, pharmacy deliveries have increased on average 85% to 150% per pharmacy, which translates into an increase of about 36 deliveries per day per pharmacy in this country. For many pharmacies, the dramatic increase in deliveries has been a challenge to manage, from a cost perspective but also from a labour perspective, in making sure that they have delivery staff who are also protected. This is why we’ve asked the federal government for $60 million in funding to support free medication deliveries for seniors in our country.
Increasing deliveries is just one way to protect people at risk while also protecting pharmacy staff.
I would now like to turn to our final point, regarding access to personal protective equipment, which, as my colleagues have all addressed, is necessary to protect front-line health workers, and pharmacists are no exception.
Pharmacies have been deemed essential services meaning that we stay open when others close. Pharmacists, as my colleague Barry noted, are the most accessible health care workers in the community and even more so now. We are seeing patients every hour of every day, many of whom are sick, without the necessary protective equipment. While many pharmacies have put in place some protective measures, such as plexiglass and other barriers, and are encouraging people with symptoms not to visit the pharmacy in person, there are still many times when we are in direct contact with our patients. We are afraid not just for ourselves but for our families and for our patients—because if we get sick, who will be there to care for them?
In Spain over 50 pharmacies have already closed due to illness. Tragically five of my pharmacist colleagues have died. We have already seen a number of pharmacies close in Canada due to exposure.
Best available evidence suggests that in addition to contact precaution, droplet precaution PPE should be used by health care workers who may be in close contact, i.e., within two metres, of someone suspected of having COVID. We know that droplet protection PPE consists of four elements: a disposable surgical procedure mask, which is used in community pharmacy settings; a full-length, long-sleeved gown; disposable gloves; and eye protection, which can include a face shield or goggles.
Unfortunately, pharmacists and others working in the pharmacy are feeling extremely vulnerable at this time. While pharmacies have been deemed essential, pharmacists and pharmacy staff have generally not been deemed essential health care providers across our jurisdiction in this country, so we have had very limited access to the necessary PPE.
We're calling upon the federal government to recognize pharmacists as “essential” health care providers and to work with all of the provinces and territories to ensure that they have access to the government supply of PPE to be distributed appropriately.
Dr. Power and I thank you very much for your time and we look forward to questions.