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Saskatoon Health Region CEO and president Maura Davies
Photograph by: The StarPhoenix , file photo
The Saskatoon Health Region is apologizing after 11 people were erroneously charged thousands of dollars as part of their cornea transplants, a process that is covered under Canadian health care.
The patients were each billed $3,600 for the cost of their transplant tissue, the health region announced Wednesday. Each of them was reimbursed.
?We are very sorry these patients were asked to pay for corneas related to a service that is covered under universal health care in Canada,? said Saskatoon Health Region CEO and president Maura Davies in a statement.
?As a health region, we were extremely disappointed to discover that an unapproved process allowed 11 patients to pay for something they shouldn?t have. This did not respect the Canada Health Act principles of universality and accessibility and will be rectified immediately.?
Davies said the health region was notified in September that corneas for transplant had been imported from the U.S. dating back to December 2011. The process was ?stopped immediately upon discovery,? said the health region in a news release.
?The corneas were imported from accredited eye banks in Indiana and Ohio, so safety of patients and effectiveness of the procedure are not a concern,? said Davies.
?The concern is that, in a desire to better serve patients waiting for what has become a growing demand for cornea transplant in Saskatchewan, patients were charged for the cost of accessing an additional supply from the U.S.?
Davies said the health region has in its budget the money to buy certain kinds of transplant tissues from such facilities, although corneas are not one of the approved tissues. Someone within the SHR transplant program thought it was permissible to purchase the cornea tissue in such a manner.
Davies said that whoever it was within the SHR that arranged for the corneas to be ordered billed the patients within existing processes. She compared it to a cataract surgery where a standard lens is free under Canadian health care but the patient can pay extra for an upgraded lens.
The health region does not think any priority wait list status was given to any of the 11 patients. Rather, more cornea transplant surgeries were done in the province than would have likely been performed based on the current supply of donors. Approximately 120 patients are currently waiting for cornea transplant in Saskatchewan.
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