Dear Editor,
Drs. Nicole Letourneau and Isabelle Malhamé write that it’s time to invest in long-term vision and continuity in health research (PA Daily Herald, October 7).
Over 16 years ago, the late Monique Bégin, a former federal Health Minister, and colleagues wrote in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that Canada is “a country of perpetual pilot programs.”
As they noted, Canada’s addiction to pilot projects that rarely move health care practices forward began 50 years ago out of good intentions. The intent was that, when a pilot research project was shown to improve health care, provinces would implement them and fund them.
But governments are wary of continuing funding because of their need to control budgets. Their health care budgets are divided into silos for managing health care professionals, hospitals, medicines, etc. As a result, overall benefits are not accounted for. Only the additional cost to the budget that pays for the new program is recorded.
Bégin and her colleagues suggested that a central, publicly accessible registry of pilot projects and their evaluations would be beneficial. Little progress has been made in this regard. And so, Canada continues to waste money, talent and energy in health research.
Until governments are prepared to change their accounting practices, recognize that pilot projects in other jurisdictions are likely to benefit patients in their province and implement beneficial programs, little will change.
Dr. Nigel Rawson
Saskatoon, SK
