Diabetes care to be managed by Cancer Care Ontario - France Gélinas

You probably know someone living with diabetes. After all, nearly one million Ontarians have diabetes, and this number is growing every year.

With $5 billion in annual costs associated with diabetes treatment and the related serious health risks such as heart attacks, stroke, kidney disease and blindness, even if you are not living with diabetes, you are paying the cost.

A strong diabetes strategy means a lot of saved pain and suffering, not to mention health care dollars. Inadequate and uncoordinated diabetes programs have disastrous consequences.

For too long, Ontario has lagged behind when it comes to building a comprehensive province-wide diabetes strategy — a strategy that would bring prevention and care to every community in this province. Health care experts and patients agree we can do better to manage diabetes in this province.

A month ago, I heard that the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care will fundamentally alter Ontario’s diabetes strategy by transferring responsibility to Cancer Care Ontario. Since then, my office has been flooded with letters, phone calls and e-mails from many of the province’s leading diabetes experts and health practitioners seeking explanations.

The problem with this transformation is that it is happening without the input of the people actually delivering diabetes services or those affected by diabetes. What is the future of diabetes care in Ontario? Don’t look to our leading diabetes experts for answers — they don’t know, because the McGuinty government has kept them in the dark.

While New Democrats have long advocated for changes to Ontario’s diabetes strategy that would place greater emphasis on prevention and service co-ordination, this clandestine makeover with no transparency or inclusive consultation was not what we had in mind.

Cancer Care Ontario is a well-respected agency. But what is the rationale for changing its mandate to include diabetes, and what will happen to the existing networks and programs? The Ontario government must answer these important questions.

There have been important gains in recent years when it comes to diabetes management. Those improvements have been made because of organizations like the Northern Diabetes Health Network (NDHN), that understand and work to meet the differing needs of populations such as children and Aboriginal peoples. It is wise to remember that much of the success in diabetes management has been the product of co-ordination and communication among health care providers, researchers, and people affected by diabetes.

Ontarians have little reason to trust the minister of health. With new details released almost daily about the blatant excess and entitlement that has characterized the ongoing eHealth scandal, we are now seeing yet another example of a minister that places no value in transparency. This is not the way a ministry that is responsible for the health and well being of Ontarians, not to mention almost half our tax dollars, should act.

The cloak of secrecy and uncertainty surrounding the Ontario diabetes strategy must be lifted. The ministry of health must stop acting as if they were the only player at the table. With the health of over one million Ontarians in the balance, we must accept nothing less.

France Gélinas is the MPP for Nickel Belt and the health critic for the Ontario New Democratic Party.