National

B.C. provides $20M to expand travel, accommodation funding for cancer patients

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 07 Aug, 2024 04:28 PM

The British Columbia government is providing $20 million over two years to support travel and lodging for cancer patients in the province.

A statement from the Ministry of Health says the funding for the Canadian Cancer Society builds on a provincial commitment of $10 million last year.

Health Minister Adrian Dix says thousands of patients and caregivers have already benefited from the program's expansion last year.

Jennifer Rice, Parliamentary secretary for rural health, says living with cancer is already a challenge, and worrying about the costs of travelling for treatment makes the experience even more difficult, especially for patients in remote areas.

The statement says nearly 1,400 patients from 249 communities received travel support funding through the cancer society's travel treatment fund in 2023 to 2024, representing a 742 per cent increase from the previous year.

It says 11,722 nights at Canadian Cancer Society lodges were also provided at no cost to patients last year, a departure from the previous nightly cost of $55.

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Series of fires outside Mission

The Mounties say police and firefighters responded Wednesday evening to a report of a structure fire on a vacant property along Gunn Avenue and found several buildings on fire, with indications that the blazes had been set intentionally. They say police responded to flames on a different property along the same road yesterday and again found they appeared to have been sparked intentionally.

Series of fires outside Mission

B.C. COVID-19 hospitalizations up 58% in two weeks, as infections, deaths also spike

COVID-19 cases are on the rise in British Columbia, with the BC Centre for Disease Control reporting hospitalizations have increased 58 per cent in the past two weeks. The centre says in its latest update that deaths due to COVID-19 are also trending upwards, with 24 fatalities in the last week of September, compared to nine in the second week of August.

B.C. COVID-19 hospitalizations up 58% in two weeks, as infections, deaths also spike

Spike in Vancouver's homeless count

The count by the Homelessness Services Association of B-C was done on March 7th and 8th -- and identified just under five thousand people in 11 communities, up from the roughly 36-hundred identified in the March 2020 count.

Spike in Vancouver's homeless count

Surrey business community grapples with police tax

Business leaders in Surrey are pleading with the province to provide a clear plan as the city grapples with the next stage of implementing a new police force. The Surrey Board of Trade has sent a letter to Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth saying the city needs a solid policing strategy with adequate wraparound support services and infrastructure as it juggles the costs of the outgoing R-C-M-P and incoming Surrey Police Service.

Surrey business community grapples with police tax

B.C. sets out law to ban use of illegal drugs in many public places

British Columbia is setting out new rules as it attempts to navigate a way to curb the overdose crisis with drug decriminalization. Possession of small amounts of many illicit drugs was decriminalized in B.C. in January after the federal government issued an exemption, but legislation introduced by the province today would make their use illegal in many public spaces.

B.C. sets out law to ban use of illegal drugs in many public places

'Extremely fluid': Liberals and NDP haven't yet agreed on promised pharmacare bill

The federal New Democrats have rejected the first draft of the Liberals' pharmacare legislation, in what the health minister describes as "extremely fluid" negotiations over the highly anticipated bill. The Liberals promised to table pharmacare legislation this fall as part of the supply-and-confidence deal the government struck with the NDP.