'Will they have to keep driving to Calgary?' Sask. NDP calls on province for immediate breast cancer plan

One day after the province announced updates to breast cancer treatment and screening, the NDP is calling on the province to provide an immediate plan for people who need care now.

During Wednesday’s legislative proceedings, NDP MLA and Health Critic Vicki Mowat said the challenges in breast cancer care have the same root cause as all other problems in health care.

“Saskatchewan people have zero faith in the Sask. Party’s ability to fix the system they broke,” NDP MLA and Health Critic Vicki Mowat said during legislative proceedings on Wednesday. “The Cancer Agency is doing 1,000 fewer scans today than it was before the pandemic.”

On Tuesday, the province introduced a plan to open doors to a new Breast Health Centre as well as an expansion of provincial breast cancer screening eligibility to include those aged 40-49, and the implementation of breast tumour localization technology.

The plan is expected to roll out over the next year, something Minister of Health Everett Hindley said will be done in a phased approach as staffing allows.

“We continue to work very closely on building up out human resource capacity to make sure that women are able to access the screening of the mammogram diagnostics they need as quickly as possible,” he said.

Mowat said plenty of women continue to wait for breast cancer care and said something needs to be done for those who need care right away.

“I spoke with another woman today, a cancer survivor who has been told she needs to wait until March 2025 to get a mammogram,” she said. “What’s the plan for women waiting right now for breast cancer care? Will they have to keep driving to Calgary for the care that they deserve to get here at home?”

“The minister wants a pat on the back for his plan, but his government is the one who allowed this crisis to unfold.”

Hindley said the government has been working on the frontlines with health care professionals to get things into place.

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“I firmly believe that this centre will help with the retention of current breast specialists, aid in the recruitment of these specialists, and most importantly, improve care for our patients,” he said.

Mowat also called on the government to commit to taking advantage of federally funded health care coverage for certain medications as well as contraceptives.

“The federal government has announced it’s working on a plan to provide insulin and contraceptives at no cost to all Canadians. This would be a game changer for Saskatchewan people who are struggling with the cost of living,” she said.

Hindley said he has spoken with the federal minister of health recently about a national PharmaCare plan.

“We are waiting [for] additional details from the federal government on how that could potentially help Saskatchewan residents,” he said.