Pain relief funding

Leaked documents show that the provincial government and the Ontario Medical Association are working together to review certain medical services in hopes of saving half a billion dollars in costs by September 1st.

One of 28 services currently being reviewed is pain injections. The document reportedly indicate that reducing pain injections to 16 a year would save $51 million.

Tina Petrova, the founder of a chronic pain advocacy group says patients will be forced to seek medication off the streets, illicit medication.

Another service being reviewed is sedation during colonoscopies, which would reportedly save the province $16 million.

When asked about the legitimacy of the leaks, the ministry of health stated that, “the ministry will not accept any proposals that do not protect patients’ quality of care. There are certain proposals that we would never accept. Ontarians will not lose access to the health care services they need and depend on.”