Cancer patient’s daily commute between hospitals is unacceptable: N.S. Tories

Nova Scotia’s Opposition Progressive Conservatives say it is unacceptable that a woman with cancer is being transported daily between two Halifax hospitals for treatment.

The Tories say Millie Johnson was recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer that affects white blood cells, and is a patient at the Dartmouth General Hospital.

But crucial components of her treatment are being carried out at the Victoria General Hospital across the harbour, and no beds are currently available there for Johnson.

Dartmouth East Tory MLA Tim Halman says it is unacceptable that she is being transported by ambulance each day between the two hospitals, roughly a 25-minute drive apart, and that it speaks to wider issues within the province’s health care system.

Halman says he has reached out to Health Minister Randy Delorey multiple times requesting a bed for Johnson at the Victoria General.

Dr. Drew Bethune, medical director of Nova Scotia’s cancer care program, concedes that transferring patients between facilities is not ideal, but says it is sometimes necessary because of bed availability.

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