The federal health minister Jean-Yves Duclos says regulations governing medical practice may have to be strengthened in each province to prevent "incompetence" by more doctors who could write thousands of prescriptions for drugs headed out of the country. Prescription drugs are seen on shelves at a pharmacy in Montreal on March 11, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
RICHMOND, B.C. – The federal health minister says regulations governing medical practice may have to be strengthened in each province to prevent “incompetence” by doctors who could write thousands of prescriptions for drugs that go to patients outside of Canada.
Jean-Yves Duclos says that at the very least, regulatory colleges may have to better enforce current regulations so medications such as the diabetes and weight-loss drug Ozempic are available to Canadians who also need them.
Concern over potential drug shortages arose after a Texas-based doctor licensed in Nova Scotia wrote 17,000 prescriptions for Ozempic, but for U.S. residents.
Duclos says regulatory colleges and provinces should guard against a similar issue arising if access to other medications such as the abortion drug mifepristone is restricted in some parts of the United States.
He says Health Canada is monitoring the supply of that drug and Ozempic, among others, and the country has enough of those medications for the domestic market.
However, Duclos says it’s important that doctors licensed in Canada be allowed to prescribe to foreign visitors, the same way that Canadians may need medications while they are travelling to other countries.
