Evidence of meeting #43 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was vehicle.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Joël Lightbound
Thank you very much, Mr. Jack and Mr. Dong.
We'll now turn to Mr. Lemire.
You have the floor for two and a half minutes.
12:55 p.m.
Bloc
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My question is for the representatives from Medtech, Mr. Malik and Ms. Spiegelman.
Reports indicate that during the pandemic, hospitals complained of delays in repairing critical ventilation equipment because only the original manufacturer could make modifications.
Have you witnessed similar experiences? Do you think delays due to repairs affect the efficiency of our health care system?
12:55 p.m.
Vice-President, Federal Affairs and National Strategic Partnerships, Medtech Canada
Thank you for the question.
During the pandemic, our medical device manufacturers, I think, went above and beyond in terms of ensuring that there was a production of ventilators, testing kits and other medical technologies required to battle the pandemic. We did not hear of any customers who were complaining that their medical products, specifically ventilators, were not repaired on time.
Mia, do you have anything else to add?
12:55 p.m.
Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs, Medtech Canada
Thank you, Raj. Along with what you mentioned, we have not heard of such concerns. In fact, some companies, as you mentioned, went above and beyond and posted the designs for their ventilators for others to use. If anything, we saw huge collaboration during COVID.
12:55 p.m.
Vice-President, Federal Affairs and National Strategic Partnerships, Medtech Canada
Maybe I can add that when it comes to servicing products within a hospital, a number of provinces—in fact, most provinces—have in-house technical service organizations already present. Not only do they have the original equipment manufacturer for repair of those devices; they also have their in-house organizations that are trained by the OEMs.
12:55 p.m.
Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs, Medtech Canada
If I can add one more piece to what you mentioned, Raj, we fully support regulated third party servicing of medical devices as integral to health care. However, our concern is the regulations.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Joël Lightbound
Thank you very much, Mr. Lemire.
That's all the time we have for this second hour of the meeting.
Thank you very much to the witnesses for making themselves available for the committee's work. We thank them very much.
I also thank the analysts, the interpreters, the clerk and all the support staff.
The meeting is adjourned.