NDP push for women’s health strategy at legislative committee

HALIFAX— On Tuesday, the NSNDP will bring witnesses before the Health Committee of the legislature to get more information about the current state of women’s health care and how a provincial women’s health strategy would improve the planning, service and delivery of care in Nova Scotia.

Witnesses will include representatives from the Nova Scotia Health Authority, the IWK Health Centre and Foundation and breast cancer survivor, Kim White.

“We have heard from women and gender diverse Nova Scotians who are living in terrible pain because they have to wait months and even years to get diagnosed or treated here at home. Some people are travelling out of province and paying tens of thousands of dollars just to have a shot at a normal life,” said NDP Leader Claudia Chender. “Women tell me they’re losing sleep waiting for their mothers, their daughters, their sisters and their friends to get follow up screenings for breast cancer.”

In the most recent legislative sitting, the Health Minister acknowledged the need for investment but dismissed the idea of a provincial strategy saying, “in the future, we may consider a women’s health strategy - just not right now.”

Chender and her colleague, NDP Health critic Rod Wilson, will raise questions about the minister’s refusal to urgently put in place a strategy, as well as cancer screenings, gynaecology care wait times that stretch for years and the inaccessibility of care in rural communities.

“Women in this province are fed up with the lack of dependable health care in our province and they should be. It’s not too much for Nova Scotians to expect they can get the health care they need, when they need it,” said Chender. “Tim Houston promised to fix healthcare five years ago, but women and gender-diverse Nova Scotians are still waiting to see results.

“Even though the government ended the legislative session, the problems don’t just go away. Women are still suffering and they’re deeply frustrated with their unreliable health care. The government needs to fix healthcare for everyone; women are being left behind. A women’s health strategy will give us a roadmap and is an important first step.”

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