Alberta doctors call for more drug-use sites to reduce strain on acute care resources

Sep 24, 2021 | 10:23 AM

EDMONTON, AB. — A group of Edmonton physicians says the Alberta government’s overhaul of harm reduction supports for people who use drugs is needlessly straining acute care resources as COVID-19 demands grow.

Members of the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association’s opioid poisoning committee have penned a letter to Premier Jason Kenney, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other health and addictions officials.

It calls for emergency action to address the drug poisoning crisis.

The association says communities do not have adequate resources to respond to spiking drug overdoses, so people who face adverse reactions are needing help from first responders, emergency departments and intensive care units more often.

Under Kenney’s leadership, the province has limited access to a life-saving opioid dependency program and supervised drug-use sites.

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The group is recommending two emergency actions; expanding access to injectable opioid agonist treatment programs, and bolstering supervised consumption and overdose prevention services.

Alberta Health Services says it’s pausing mental illness and addiction program referrals in the province.

It says it needs to reassign staff to help deal with the strain on the health-care system caused by COVID-19.

A-H-S says some inpatients will be transferred to non-acute spaces. As well, a unit that provides recovery support programming for people with stabilized mental illness will help patients with an online program.

The head of Alberta Health Services says so many people are being admitted to I-C-U’s each day that medical staff can only keep up because of the number of deaths from COVID-19.

Dr. Verna Yiu (YOU) says hospitals have admitted two dozen or more critically ill COVID-19 patients on average each day since Sunday.

The result is non-urgent surgeries have been cancelled across the province, including transplants, cancer operations and surgeries on children.

by The Canadian Press