Madam Chair, my thanks to my colleague for her very passionate speech. I have had the opportunity to work closely with her. I know how much she cares about the most vulnerable citizens of our communities. In her past work, she spent a lot of time working with the John Howard and Elizabeth Fry societies and folks who were trying to get their lives back in order after oftentimes very difficult circumstances. I thank the member very much for her work and her passion.
The question, however, relates to new SAP regulations and how the changes to the food and drug regulations related to the special access program help facilitate access. Facilitating access includes timely access to drugs by easing the burden for health practitioners by removing reporting requirements for treatments previously approved by SAP, approved without restrictions on the European or U.S. market, or previously approved in Canada, and the drug identification number was not cancelled for safety reasons; allowing for the shipment of treatments to a community pharmacy, which will be more convenient for patients, especially those who do not live close to their physician or hospital; and allowing advance importation and storage of drugs, known as pre-positioning, to facilitate quicker access to treatments requested through the SAP when urgent delivery is critical.
Also, we have made a number of operational changes so that we can support regulatory changes and improve client services under SAP. This includes additional supports for practitioners treating patients who are in urgent, life-threatening or end-of-life situations due to an emergency, critical or terminal illness, and a number of other situations.