“In a recent announcement by Canadian Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, the minister stated that he would ban the bulk export of prescription drugs "when necessary," and that tougher rules would be put in place to require ‘an established doctor/patient relationship for any cross-border drug sales.’”
This is a topic that has been receiving more and more attention. The U.S. wants to stop people from buying drugs from Canada. Yet, congress had proposed that they buy prescriptions drugs from Canada for their own congressional medical plan (I believe they backed away from this proposal). Canada is concerned about fostering business while also protecting their population from increasing costs of prescription drugs and shortages in supply. I agree that Canada should promote business development, but perhaps it is correct to put some controls on this practice. It would be a shame for Canadians to be subject to increasing drug costs, just because the U.S. cannot control their pharmaceutical industry and increasing drug costs. What are your thoughts?
What is the real issue here? Finances or the "doctor/patient relationship"? I believe the government should be clear about their reasons...
Posted by: Josue | July 06, 2005 at 09:42 PM
Well, I believe that ultimately finances are the real issue. I do think that there are some real concerns that Canada cannot be a 24 hour pharmacy to the U.S. and still maintain supply and pricing levels for it's own citizens. Issues of doctor/patient relationships are just one way to control it.
Posted by: Krist | July 08, 2005 at 05:07 PM