Sick of cuts
Doctors demand reinstatement of flu shot program
The Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association (NLMA) and the provincial government are trading shots over the decision by the Liberals to eliminate physician-delivered flu shots.
The NLMA released documents Thursday morning it obtained through access to information legislation relating to the decision made on May 3 to cut flu shot coverage from MCP.
It revealed that the government’s objective was to save money in order to fund the expansion of the HPV vaccination program to include males, the NLMA says.
A number of health care professionals and several politicians lent their voices to the request to re-establish the physician-delivered flu shot program, including former health minister Steve Kent, NDP health critic Lorraine Michael and a number of physicians and leaders with health organizations and boards across the province.
Minister of Health and Community Services John Haggie was not one of them.
He explained the government’s decision during a news conference at the Confederation Building Thursday afternoon.
“It is free of charge to give flu shots. There is no prohibition. I want to clear that up right now,” Haggie said.
“If anyone has been told this by a doctor, I would like to hear about it.”
Haggie said the decision was made so doctors could better utilize their scope of practice so those who have specific skills are free to carry out those duties that no others can deal with.
“This will free up doctors to concentrate on complex, complicated disease problems,” he said.
“We want doctors working to the maximum of their skills. Nurse practitioners can deal with as much as 80 per cent of these.”
When asked if he would meet with the NLMA to revisit the decision, he said, “I can’t see the logic behind the NLMA and NDP requests. We meet with them on a regular basis and will always meet with them on a variety of issues.”
Documents tell different story
The documents also show that public health clinics provided through Eastern Health are already overextended and need increased funds from the government to deliver flu shots.
“The access to information documents state that it costs Eastern Health about $9 per flu shot. The NLMA does not know if that cost is consistent for the other health authorities, but if we use it to multiply by about 45,000 flu shots that may be displaced from doctors to the health authorities, the total extra cost would be more than $405,000, and that does not include the $360,000 needed to expand the HPV program,” NLMA president Dr. Lynn Dwyer said.
“We must also consider that doctors who are no longer providing flu shots will use this time to see other patients for other procedures and services. This activity will generate replacement billings to MCP,” she added.
Dwyer said when all these costs are added together, it shows taxpayers will pay more than the $496,000 that MCP paid for physician flu shots last year.
“And it does not factor in the potential for increased costs resulting from increased ER visits, hospitalizations and ICU admissions. Neither taxpayers nor patients are being well served by this decision. More harm for higher cost is not good public policy.”
Strong voices chide in
“Just say you are wrong and change the decision,” Michael said. “Bring back this program for the people of this province.”
St. John’s family physician Dr. Jillian Parsons knows first hand the impact this has on a family, as her infant daughter was stricken with a flu virus.
“Immune-compromised individuals won’t have to wait in an at-risk situation,” she said about patients having to attend an ER to get treatment or shots for the flu.
“When I first heard of this decision I was shocked and appalled at government’s decision to no longer fund flu vaccinations.”
Janeway pediatric cardiologist Dr. Christina Templeton says a sick child could go from sick and sniffles to the worse case of being near death from something that was preventable.
She said others, such as cancer patients, can’t receive flu shots due to chemotherapy, and those with flu and other bugs around them are making them more vulnerable.
“This is not good for public health. It may save money, but it could cost people their lives,” Kent said Thursday morning.
“It just doesn’t make sense, especially at the expense of thousands of people who won’t get a flu shot,” he added.
Kent said there will be more people hospitalized and possibly dying due to not getting a flu shot. He said there needs to be increased access, not a reduction in services, and vaccinations should be available in as many places as possible.
The NLMA has launched a social media campaign to encourage concerned citizens to call on the provincial government to reverse its decision. The campaign is available at flunl.ca.