Federal Liberal health critic Ujjal Dosanjh is asking Conservative Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq to investigate whether a private Vancouver health clinic is breaking the law. Read more…

VICTORIA - British Columbia's children's watchdog is calling on the provincial government to do something about the province's high child poverty rate in a report that reviews the sad, short lives of 21 dead children. Read more…

Terrence Young, the Conservative MP for Oakville, Ontario, said he had hoped to meet with B.C. Health Minister Colin Hansen about the threatened Therapeutics Initiative drug watchdog, but the minister was unable to make time. Read more…

Spending more on the sickest patients would save British Columbia's health care system money overall, Liberal leadership candidate Moira Stilwell said today.

She also called for better integrating private and public health care, improving care in rural and northern B.C. and making more effort to treat people with mental illnesses. Read more…

The provincial government has awarded three out of five contracts to review the evidence on drugs to members of the Therapeutics Initiative at the University of British Columbia.

"Those who have stated that the Therapeutics Initiative is being eliminated or that we are bowing to industry pressures are completely wrong," said Health Minister Colin Hansen. Read more…

As the British Columbia Liberal government increased the number of private liquor stores allowed in the province, the number of alcohol-related deaths increased, according to a newly released study.

"Our job is just to put the inconvenient truth out there," said Tim Stockwell, the lead author of the study published in the journal Addiction and the director of the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C. at the University of Victoria. Read more…

Federal politicians from three parties will come together in Vancouver to support a drug review program the provincial government has sidelined.

“The three speakers, representatives of the three parties, feel very strongly about the issue and have agreed to come and speak on it,” said Jim Turk, the executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers. Read more…

The Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada have issued a "Lessons Learned Review" of their response to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. While the report describes many successes in fighting the pandemic, the recommendations for improvement indicate that Ottawa and the provinces were often communicating poorly to one another, to healthcare professionals, and to the public. Read more…

If there had been evidence of extra billing by a private health clinic, an NDP government would have acted, said former Premier Ujjal Dosanjh.

Now a federal Liberal MP and health critic, Dosanjh also said the Conservative government needs to protect the public system and do more to oppose private clinics’ extra billing. Read more…

Successive British Columbia governments have allowed private health clinics to do business in the province.

That’s doctor Brian Day’s reaction to a story The Tyee published last week. Read more…

The British Columbia government is yet to seek a warrant so it can conduct its audit into Brian Day's private surgery clinic. Read more…

Canadian children in poor families are suffering from a widening inequality gap, according to a UNICEF report published December 3. But Canada can take measures to improve their future. Read more…

Getting input from patients on what drugs the government pays for could be good if it's done right, said Victoria health policy researcher Alan Cassels.

“I think involving consumers is a great idea,” Cassels said. “But you've got to have real consumers. And if you want real consumers, you have to pay for it.” Read more…

Some new tracking of people who are one step away from being homeless reveals a large population rife with mental illness, hunger and chronic health problems. Read more…

A 76-year-old woman returned from a three-month stay in India earlier this year and was found to be infected with bacteria carrying NDM-1 -- a gene that confers resistance to practically all antibiotics. She died soon thereafter. Read more…

When she’s elected premier, “eliminating every single remaining provision of Bill 29” will be one of her first orders of business, NDP leader Carole James told the Hospital Employees Union (HEU) convention in a speech Friday morning. Read more…

British Columbia should reconsider its move towards patient-focused funding for surgery, former British secretary of state for health and current Labour Member of Parliament Frank Dobson said today.

“It doesn't work and it's very expensive to administer,” Dobson said in an interview. Read more…

If you think the bus is the “loser cruiser,” you’re right -- but not for the reasons you think. Read more…

Findings from a report on B.C. children and youth are of concern and should be a “call to action,” according to its authors. Read more…

Laying off 12 registered psychiatric nurses at Fraser Health Authority (FHA) geriatric care facilities will remove the lynch pin of patient health, says Reid Johnson, president of the Health Sciences Association of British Columbia (HSABC). Read more…