An NDP leadership hopeful is pushing the Saskatchewan Government to fund all HIV treatments.
During Question Period on Tuesday Ryan Meili petitioned the province to fund antiretroviral treatments for HIV. ART medications do not cure HIV but in some cases have been shown to prevent the growth of the virus.
“Full coverage of these medications would prevent new cases of HIV, would save money and most importantly would save lives,” Meili told the assembly. “It would be an addition of less than half a million dollars to fully cover those medications…we know how much each new case costs, so it would be a very good step to take.”
Minister of Health Jim Reiter says the HIV infection rate in Saskatchewan is a serious issue. Reiter says the government is considering the ART treatment.
“We take this seriously, but we have taken action…we have increased the amount spent on HIV testing by 443% and 45% on prevention funding,” said Reiter. “We are considering where we should go from here and we want to do everything we can to help, but it should be stated that as of right now 93% of the cost of HIV treatments is provided by the government.”
The two respective MLAs also argued over whether the recent rise in the reported number of HIV cases was due to a rise in testing.
However, both agreed to advocate the federal government for more funding for HIV/AIDS organizations around the province.
According to statistics from the Saskatoon Health Region, 1 in four people living with HIV have died in the province in last decade. Saskatchewan has also been shown to have nearly double the rate of the infectious disease than the rest of Canada with a concernedly high diagnosis rate in the Indigenous population.
(PHOTO: Screen shot of Ryan Meili addressing the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.)