B.C. is putting some people’s eyesight at risk
Email
Print
Letter to Editor
Share
Editor:
Seeing the faces of her grandchildren. This is what my mother is fighting for, and the B.C. government is putting my mother’s eyesight—and others like her—at risk.
My mother and thousands of BC seniors are being treated for wet age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, the leading cause of blindness for people over 50.
Since June 2009, BC has provided funding for two medications to treat wet AMD—one that has been approved by Health Canada (Lucentis) and one that has not (Avastin). BC is the only provincial government covering Avastin for wet AMD—against the recommendation of Health Canada, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and Canadian Council of the Blind, and their own Drug Benefit Committee.
Even more concerning is the fact that the program actually includes a financial incentive for physicians to prescribe the non-approved Avastin.
Why is the BC Government allowing doctors to inject Avastin into the eyes of our citizens? Avastin has only been approved to treat colon cancer—not wet AMD. My mother does not want Avastin injected into her eye, especially when Lucentis is available, approved by Health Canada, and proven to be very effective.
Please write to our Health Minister Kevin Falcon to ask him to immediately stop funding Avastin and putting our seniors at risk. Every B,C, citizen with wet AMD should receive the best available treatment. Their vision, independence and health depend on it.
Leanne Bernaerdt
Richmond
v2
