Athabasca MLA Buckley Belanger wants dialysis services to be available in Île-à-la-Crosse or La Loche. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

Dialysis Petition

MLA calls for hemodialysis services in northern Saskatchewan

Mar 22, 2019 | 5:17 PM

Athabasca MLA Buckley Belanger wants the provincial government to do more when it comes to delivering hemodialysis services for northerners.

Earlier this week, Belanger presented a petition in the legislature requesting dialysis services in either Île-à-la-Crosse or La Loche. Then, in the provincial budget Wednesday, it was announced Meadow Lake would receive $700,000 to support creating a new satellite dialysis service. While Belanger called having the services located in Meadow Lake is a step in the right direction, he stated perhaps there could be enough funds to provide a dialysis bed in a northern community as well.

“There’s always a challenge of where to put the resources for the most effective use,” he said. “When we look at the numbers of dialysis patients we have coming out of the northwest, we are two or three patients shy to fulfill the number of patients needed for a full dialysis centre.”

The Saskatchewan NDP has been pushing for dialysis services in the north for the last two or three years, Belanger added, as there are many people who need access to it. With the current situation, he noted some northerners travel up to 700 kilometers two or three times per week for dialysis. Some people also need dialysis for years, Belanger said, and some people pay upwards to $3,500 each month to pay for meals, fuel and accommodations.

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“We’re aware there are many families in northwest Saskatchewan and, in the whole of the north as well, who have been travelling to southern places for hemodialysis treatment,” he said. “Not only is the cost tremendous on them, but so is the physical strain on their health and their bodies.”

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno