The province has announced that people living with epilepsy can now access better treatment through a new epilepsy monitoring unit and an adjacent neurological recovery unit have both opened at Health Sciences Centre (HSC) Winnipeg.
“This new monitoring unit will ensure more Manitobans living with epilepsy can get the specialized care they need, close to home,” said Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister Uzoma Asagwara. “The previous government shut down the epilepsy monitoring unit in 2019, leaving Manitobans with no option but to be referred out of province to receive this essential care, or not receive it at all. We’re taking a different approach, building our health system here in Manitoba, and ensuring that this care is always available when people need it.”
Most people with an epilepsy diagnosis can successfully manage their symptoms with medication, noted the minister. However, when long-term drug therapy is not effective as a treatment, patients are referred to an epilepsy monitoring unit to determine why they are not responding to drug therapies and if surgery is an alternative.
The new four-bed adult epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) opened in January, replacing a two-bed unit that closed in late 2019 due to staffing challenges and clinical equipment failure. The new unit, which is opening in phases, allows more patients to undergo continuous monitoring to better understand how changes in brain electrical activity relate to their symptoms, which is crucial in determining treatment. The minister noted the province provided $2.3 million in capital funding for the EMU and will invest more than $2.5 million annually toward operating costs.
To complement the expanded EMU, the HSC Foundation has funded the development of a new four-bed unit strategically positioned between it and the neurosurgery unit. This new space, called Unit B5B, is an expansion to the step-down unit for neurosurgery patients and will increase capacity required for epilepsy surgery patients.
Because of its location, specialized staff are able to serve both patient populations seamlessly, noted the minister. It opened in December 2023.
“The opening and expansion of the adult EMU is an important development for Manitobans living with epilepsy, and the opening of the new donor-funded Unit B5B will further enhance the care available at Manitoba’s hospital,” said Lyon. “Today’s announcement is another powerful example of what is possible when government, hospital leaders and the foundation work together in the spirit of partnership and in the pursuit of excellence in care. We are grateful for the support we received from our donors. Once again, we have seen that Manitobans are inspired to do their part as donors to help move health care forward.”
Unit B5B was made possible with $500,000 of support from donors, many of whom have a connection with the Epilepsy and Seizure Association of Manitoba.
“My son Tom has an implanted vagus nerve stimulation device to help control his seizures and he visits HSC’s seizure clinic every 10 weeks,” said Pat Trottier, board member, Epilepsy and Seizure Association of Manitoba, and contributor to the foundation’s campaign. “To see the addition of Unit B5B reassures me that Tom and other Manitobans with epilepsy will have timely access to the care and evaluation they need.”
There is currently a pediatric epilepsy surgical program with a monitoring unit in Manitoba, but an adult program is not yet in place. A modern, fully functioning adult epilepsy monitoring unit is an important step forward towards the establishment of such a program, noted the minister. With a modern epilepsy monitoring unit opened, more and more patients who are candidates for epilepsy surgery will be identified, with the goal of recruiting additional staff to support an adult surgical program.
“The establishment of a fully functioning adult program will have significant benefits for both patients and the health system as a whole,” said Dr. Manon Pelletier, chief medical officer, HSC. “Proper disease diagnosis and assessment will lead to fewer repeat emergency department visits, fewer inpatient admissions and a reduced need for frequent MRI scans. We are thrilled to be moving forward with a plan that will improve the lives of patients and the health-care services available to them in Manitoba.”
Some Ontario doctors have started offering a free shot that can protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus while Quebec will begin its immunization program next month.
The new shot called Nirsevimab gives babies antibodies that provide passive immunity to RSV, a major cause of serious lower respiratory tract infections for infants and seniors, which can cause bronchiolitis or pneumonia.
Ontario’s ministry of health says the shot is already available at some doctor’s offices in Ontario with the province’s remaining supply set to arrive by the end of the month.
Quebec will begin administering the shots on Nov. 4 to babies born in hospitals and delivery centers.
Parents in Quebec with babies under six months or those who are older but more vulnerable to infection can also book immunization appointments online.
The injection will be available in Nunavut and Yukon this fall and winter, though administration start dates have not yet been announced.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
-With files from Nicole Ireland
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Polio cases are rising ahead of a new vaccination campaign in Pakistan, where violence targeting health workers and the police protecting them has hampered years of efforts toward making the country polio-free.
Since January, health officials have confirmed 39 new polio cases in Pakistan, compared to only six last year, said Anwarul Haq of the National Emergency Operation Center for Polio Eradication.
The new nationwide drive starts Oct. 28 with the aim to vaccinate at least 32 million children. “The whole purpose of these campaigns is to achieve the target of making Pakistan a polio-free state,” he said.
Pakistan regularly launches campaigns against polio despite attacks on the workers and police assigned to the inoculation drives. Militants falsely claim the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
Most of the new polio cases were reported in the southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh province, following by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and eastern Punjab province.
The locations are worrying authorities since previous cases were from the restive northwest bordering Afghanistan, where the Taliban government in September suddenly stopped a door-to-door vaccination campaign.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the two countries in which the spread of the potentially fatal, paralyzing disease has never been stopped. Authorities in Pakistan have said that the Taliban’s decision will have major repercussions beyond the Afghan border, as people from both sides frequently travel to each other’s country.
The World Health Organization has confirmed 18 polio cases in Afghanistan this year, all but two in the south of the country. That’s up from six cases in 2023. Afghanistan used a house-to-house vaccination strategy this June for the first time in five years, a tactic that helped to reach the majority of children targeted, according to WHO.
Health officials in Pakistan say they want the both sides to conduct anti-polio drives simultaneously.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of people with private health insurance would be able to pick up over-the-counter methods like condoms, the “morning after” pill and birth control pills for free under a new rule the White House proposed on Monday.
Right now, health insurers must cover the cost of prescribed contraception, including prescription birth control or even condoms that doctors have issued a prescription for. But the new rule would expand that coverage, allowing millions of people on private health insurance to pick up free condoms, birth control pills, or “morning after” pills from local storefronts without a prescription.
The proposal comes days before Election Day, as Vice President Kamala Harris affixes her presidential campaign to a promise of expanding women’s health care access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to undo nationwide abortion rights two years ago. Harris has sought to craft a distinct contrast from her Republican challenger, Donald Trump, who appointed some of the judges who issued that ruling.
“The proposed rule we announce today would expand access to birth control at no additional cost for millions of consumers,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Bottom line: women should have control over their personal health care decisions. And issuers and providers have an obligation to comply with the law.”
The emergency contraceptives that people on private insurance would be able to access without costs include levonorgestrel, a pill that needs to be taken immediately after sex to prevent pregnancy and is more commonly known by the brand name “Plan B.”
Without a doctor’s prescription, women may pay as much as $50 for a pack of the pills. And women who delay buying the medication in order to get a doctor’s prescription could jeopardize the pill’s effectiveness, since it is most likely to prevent a pregnancy within 72 hours after sex.
If implemented, the new rule would also require insurers to fully bear the cost of the once-a-day Opill, a new over-the-counter birth control pill that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved last year. A one-month supply of the pills costs $20.
Federal mandates for private health insurance to cover contraceptive care were first introduced with the Affordable Care Act, which required plans to pick up the cost of FDA-approved birth control that had been prescribed by a doctor as a preventative service.
The proposed rule would not impact those on Medicaid, the insurance program for the poorest Americans. States are largely left to design their own rules around Medicaid coverage for contraception, and few cover over-the-counter methods like Plan B or condoms.
