Health committee  For this drug, the training takes about four hours.

Health committee  In Quebec, the situation is different. In cases like these, we use a vaporizer. The drug is drawn from a vial and put in a syringe, and a vaporizer is added to that to administer the drug through the nose. The patient then has to be monitored. Withdrawal is virtually instantaneou

Health committee  Even in the regions where there have been no cases recorded, as many as 90% of ambulance paramedics have been trained. There was already a delay at Urgences-santé in terms of mandatory training. Because they had to make up for that delay, they chose, in doing the planning, to do

Health committee  It depends on what the authorities want to do. If we were starting from zero today, it would take four to six months to train everybody, including the people who are absent on an irregular basis.

Health committee  The important thing is that the drug be available to victims as quickly as possible. In addition, the drug can be given without a prescription today. So that would go without saying, but on the condition that training is given. We still cannot have it being given just any way. T

Health committee  Yes, I have no objection to that if it can save lives. You understand that time is important, to save a victim.

Health committee  It is hard for me to say. There would have to be coroner's inquests to determine the full sequence of events. Was it because the drug was not available? Was it because the ambulance was delayed? Was death pronounced once the person arrived at the hospital? I do not have that inf

Health committee  Even though it is less current, I will take the example of the apprehension generated by the Ebola virus disease. Within the border services, everyone was involved. The directives and recommendations were clear. In addition, monitoring afterward was requested. In this case, the

Health committee  I would make a distinction between regulations and directives. I am talking here about giving directives and explaining clearly that it is important to tackle the situation, given that it is a public health problem. In terms of regulations, which I prefer not to address today, th

Health committee  To summarize, we are currently facing budget restrictions. Urgences-santé is a government body that is directly connected with the department. When the government changed, we had a series of cuts, including cuts relating to the opioid crisis. At the same time, there was also a cr

Health committee  It was Urgences-santé, together with the department. It is important to understand that the plan was to provide training on naloxone later. It was planned, but for later.

Health committee  It might be by 2019-20. When the crisis occurred, people wanted—maybe for appearances—to train some ambulance paramedics, thinking that these people would serve the entire area. Obviously, that did not work. Even today, we are concerned because there are cuts in training. The am

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, everyone. Mr. Chair, members of the committee, I would like to thank you for having me here before you today. I am aware of what a privilege it is to appear before you so that I can contribute, however little, to the work concerning the opioid