Madam Chair, I am pleased to take part in tonight's debate made possible by my colleague, the member for Etobicoke North, who has lived this disease through friends, family members, and through the thousands and thousands of emails she has received. Emails that were directed to the federal government in fact to the federal Minister of Health. These emails are from Canadians who are suffering from MS and who want some relief from this debilitating disease.
Tonight we are here to speak about the need for treatments to be available to people who are living with multiple sclerosis in this country. I am pleased to join my colleague in advocating for the tens of thousands of multiple sclerosis patients who are calling on the Conservative government to invest in MS research, diagnosis and treatment, and to immediately convene a meeting of provincial and territorial health ministers to discuss a national approach to funding MS and other diseases of the brain.
This is an issue that requires leadership and if, as some colleagues in the House are saying, the provinces are not moving on this issue then there should be some leadership in terms of a national strategy to bring together provincial and territorial health ministers. There needs to be some action on this file and if there is a sense that something is not happening, then there is an obligation on the part of the federal government to make it happen.
In particular, we need to look at MS and its potential cause, CCSVI, as requested by the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. As with any research concerning health care, there has been both controversy and interest regarding the CCSVI hypothesis and the liberation procedure. I do appreciate that numerous questions remain; however, it would seem to me from what I have read and from what I have heard from MS patients that there is growing support for the liberation procedure for MS patients who have blocked veins in their necks. It is certainly something that Canada should be looking at to assist MS patients.
The Liberal opposition has asked the health minister to convene a meeting of the provinces and territories to discuss MS issues. These issues are urgent to MS patients and their families. The Liberal opposition has also called upon the Conservative government to enable individuals living with MS to be imaged for venous malformations and treated if required. We believe there is a moral obligation to offer all MS patients the imaging necessary to identify a venous malformation and access to the treatment that could possibly stop the progression of this disease.
Currently, between 55,000 and 75,000 Canadians are living with MS and the MS Society of Canada has called on the Conservative government to provide $10 million for research into multiple sclerosis. It is really important that we put a personal face on this disease.
I will do that by referencing the representation that I have had from a couple of my constituents in the riding of Random—Burin—St. George's in Newfoundland and Labrador. Let me speak about my constituent, Perry Goodyear, who lives in Grand Bank, Newfoundland, and is one of the thousands of Canadians living with MS. Perry lives with primary progressive MS. He has breathing difficulties and he lives in constant pain. He desperately wants to get the ultrasound done to determine if something can be done to support him in his battle against MS. Perry wrote to me and I will share his comments with the House this evening.
In his letter Perry said, “I'm not getting the answers I want. Why can anybody get this ultrasound done, but we as MS patients are being denied. Are we not human or just looked down on as different people. I'm finding it hard to cope with that. I'm discriminated against as a person. I can get this scan as a non MS patient. I'm having breathing problems, can't swallow food right, (and in) constant pain. Now the government won't cover my LDN pill under my drug card because it's made from scratch at a pharmacy. My feet are purple - this pill helped with circulation and pain. Now I can't have it. What's next for me? I'm reaching out in pure pain. Just give me the scan. After that I'll know if I've got a chance to slow this rapid condition. It's not easy hearing your 13-year-old daughter asking if you will die without this surgery”.
Perry just wants to know if there is something that can be done for him and other MS patients. Anyone who has ever faced an illness knows how important knowledge is. It is that knowledge that gives people and their families the hope and the strength to persevere.
Friends of Perry have also written in support of him and his family, friends who watch him suffer on a daily basis with this debilitating disease. All they are talking about is the need to access a treatment that will make a difference in the lives of Perry and his family, and will recognize that he has every right to live a quality of life that most of us as Canadians take for granted.
We are asking the health minister for her support to make the research into this liberation procedure which may alleviate a potential cause of MS a priority, to take a leadership role, to help the thousands of Canadians who are suffering with this debilitating disease.
We know that liberation treatment centres are developing around the world, including Poland, Scotland and the United States. Recently, Kuwait became the first country in the world to offer the liberation procedure to all of its MS patients who have blocked veins in their necks.
Canada, with one of the highest rates of MS in the world, should be a leader in research and procedures to assist MS patients. However, this has not been the case.
Currently, Canadian doctors do not scan MS patients for venous malformations. MS patients who have had the liberation procedure, which opens up these narrowed veins, reported improvement in brain fuzziness and circulation, and over time a marked improvement in the quality of life, something that the majority of Canadians take for granted.
I can only imagine what it must be like to be living with MS and knowing that treatment may be possible, but that the federal government is unwilling to take a stand in the fight against this horrible disease
If the Conservative government cannot be compelled by logic and compassion to take a leadership role in finding a cure for MS, perhaps it will be motivated by the economic sensibility of such action.
As I said, Canada has one of the highest rates of MS in the world. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information the estimated total cost of MS to the Canadian economy is $1 billion, more than that devoted to all infectious diseases combined. In Canada five drug therapies are approved for the treatment of some forms of MS. The cost of these therapies range from about $20,000 to $40,000 per year per patient and symptom management drugs can cost up to $10,000 per year. It has been estimated that a scan and liberation treatment in a public hospital setting would cost between $5,000 and $6,000.
I wish share with the House a story from another one of my constituents. I think it is important to do this to put a personal face on this issue. Raymond Grandy of Harbour Breton in Newfoundland and Labrador, is another Canadian living with MS. Raymond is living with the challenges of this debilitating disease.
He writes, “I have watched so many people on television and the Internet choose the Liberation treatment and feel better after the fact. I just want to be able to take the chance on getting it done without costing me a barrel of money that I don't have. Right now, I see a treatment that is not attainable in my situation because along with my deteriorating health, I just simply cannot afford to go out of the country seeing that I get a disability cheque each month of $834.95 and my medications cost me $206.00 monthly. Please take the time to read this letter and please let Dr. Zamboni explain everything that the doctors in Canada need to know so that they can help us with MS.