Confused priorities

The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, in its wisdom, has decided it’s time to add a new service for the public. Women under the age of 42 will now be eligible for one round of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) therapy.

The costly treatment greatly increases the chance that a woman with fertility issues becomes pregnant. One round of treatment can cost as much as $10,000.

To be sure, for a person or a couple who plans to raise a family, learning that a medical anomaly is preventing that from happening must be devastating. I don’t presume to imagine what it feels like. In a recent interview, health minister Dr. Eric Hoskins likened it to receiving news about the diagnosis of a lifethreatening injury.

Still, something doesn’t sit right.

Despite having a public healthcare system in Ontario, there are many problems that are attributed to a lack of funds. Accessing dental health, optometry and even prescription medication is often only affordable by those with private insurance.

All three items greatly affect quality of life. Untreated dental problems can lead to more serious health problems. Poor eyesight can affect a person’s chance of holding a job. Many illnesses require prescription medication to manage.

Mental health care is scant, with waiting times to see a mental health professional ranging from several weeks to nearly a year. A person with an untreated mental illness may find themselves in the hospital receiving acute care before they are able to connect with a doctor.

Here in the County, we are witnessing the effects of cutbacks as hospitals under Quinte Health Care shrink back and centralize their services, with the Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital surviving partly due to the vigilance and funding of private citizens.

And yet, for every IVF treatment the Ontario government provides, it will cost taxpayers up to $10,000. There is no guarantee the treatment will produce a child.

Parents, I believe, must learn to balance priorities more than the rest of us.

Parents must manage not only their own lives but the lives of the children they commit to care for. They must consider an extra person when preparing a household budget. They must consider the needs of their children, the time they require, their schooling and activities and their physical and emotional health.

It must be a painful experience for a woman to learn she can’t have a child. But with a health system so strapped for cash, the decision to offer such treatments seems like a case of mismanaged priorities. Especially as Quebec winds down IVF treatments after that province determined they are too expensive.

We can only hope that a future Ontario will get its priorities straight, and that the children made possible by government-funded IVF treatments, as adults, will have access to decent dental care, will be able to afford prescriptions, and will have access to rural hospitals.

mihal@mihalzada.com