Ottawa, provinces prepare for pandemic

[Canadian Socialist]

Last Updated Sat, 13 May 2006 17:52:32 EDT
CBC News

Every Canadian who falls sick during a pandemic will have access to anti-viral medication, federal Health Minister Tony Clement said Saturday.

"We want everyone who is ill to receive treatment," Clement said after a conference of provincial and territorial health ministers in Toronto. "A strategy is now in place to make sure everyone who needs drugs will get them."

Clement, who was Ontario's health minister during the SARS epidemic in 2003, said he has been working with Canadian manufacturers to increase the supply of the anti-viral drugs used to protect people against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, bird flu and other infectious diseases.

Good to know our universal healthcare people are on the ball