Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you for your science, for your courage for doing this work.
To Lianne and Steve Garvie, thank you so much for having the courage to come and share your stories. They are overwhelming.
Before I ask my questions, I want to read a letter I got last night. It reads:
I am a Canadian medical doctor who's been practising since 1969. I also have had MS since 1990 and just got back from Poland, where I had balloon angioplasty to a stenotic right internal jugular vein. I have noticed improvements in several areas... I also met many Canadians in Ketowice who had been treated with positive results. They were ecstatic and so grateful for an improvement to their quality of life. Two-thirds of all the people treated there are Canadians. ... There are 2,000 people on their waiting list. The argument in Canada by neurologists is that we need more studies before we can do this in Canada. The only way you do a study is by treating people and a follow-up. Neurologists should have no input into this aspect of treating MS. They are not vascular surgeons.
He goes on to talk about what it costs per month. He says:
Improvement of quality of life has no price tag. We will only know if the positive changes resulting from this endovascular surgery will last after months and years of follow-up. There is no problem for paying for angioplasty for coronary artery stenosis or surgery for carotid artery stenosis. Why the discrimination to venous stenosis?
His last line is:
I hope you fight for the rights of Canadians to get treatment in Canada.
Dr. McDonald, how easy is it to correct these anomalies?