Council launches new ads blasting Dexter government over Lucentis funding
Posted May 6, 2010 05:41:55 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Canadian Council of the Blind is turning up the heat on the Dexter government over its refusal to fund a drug that can treat a degenerative eye condition.
The council is urging the province to fund Lucentis, which is now covered in every other province.
In a new ad campaign, the council says Nova Scotians with wet macular degeneration have three choices: to go blind, go bankrupt or go away.
Don Moors, 92, who suffers from WMD and can’t afford Lucentis, points out the premier was in favour of funding it – while in opposition.
“Given that his party has promised, while in opposition, that they would look after this, the NDP government has a responsibility to live up to its word,” he said.
The province has said it can’t afford the drug’s $4.5 million price tag, but the Council of the Blind estimates the cost of funding Lucentis would actually be closer to $2.5 million – and it notes that’s a fraction of the cost of caring for WMD patients who lose their vision.
The new ads call on the public to call or email their MLA with a request for Lucentis to be covered.
