Published May 3, 2003 in the North Island Weekender
The British Columbia liberal government is preparing to
reduce the scope of practice for naturopathic physicians based on the
government’s document entitled “Safe Choices: A New Model for Regulating Health
Professionals in British Columbia”. This document can be viewed at the British Columbia
Naturopathic Association’s (BCNA) website bcna.bc.ca and represents a huge step backwards for
naturopathic medicine and health care in British Columbia. The proposed changes
will only serve to limit access to hundreds of thousands of existing patients
seeking complementary medical care from qualified naturopathic physicians
(ND’s).
ND’s have been providing safe, effective, valid health care for over a century and have had a Naturopathic Physicians Act in B.C. since 1936. Now they want to severely limit the scope of practice of ND’s. It will limit the ND’s ability to perform physical exams, PAP smears, physical therapies, naturopathic manipulation, allergy testing and limit access to medicines that ND’s are trained and educated to use. The BCNA has repeatedly asked the B.C. government to resolve this issue of access to medicines but has not been dealt with fairly or objectively for the past 67 years.
The government claims to believe in preventive health care yet they plan to implement a scope of practice that would limit the patient choice and decrease health care options, eliminate safe, effective, economical preventive health care options for residents of BC that conventional medicine does not provide, and disregard the precedents and past agreements regarding scope of practice.
ND’s place no fiscal burden on the government, in fact ND’s
save the government money by healing patients who might otherwise take costly
drug regimes and undergo expensive surgeries.
Sindi Hawkins, Minister of Health, has received many letters written by patients of ND’s across the province and in her reply, public safety is her first priority along with the continuance of freedom of choice. The BCNA disagrees and sees that the Safe Choices document will foster an environment of unregulated complementary health practices leading to increased public safety issues and does not support continued freedom of choice. She suggests there are harmful procedures being delivered, however this has not been supported by any statistics or clinical evidence. ND’s under go a minimum of three years of pre-medical training followed by four years of clinical training at accredited naturopathic medical schools and continuing medical education is mandatory to maintain licensure in this province.
The documents do not provide any rationale for these proposed changes and are a
radical departure from what naturopathic medicine has been since 1921. The
minister of health ignores the fact that most jurisdictions are moving toward
integrating health care that encourages complementary medicine.
The BCNA is
circulating a province-wide petition asking the government to bring forward a
scope for naturopathic physicians that reflects the longstanding safety record
of naturopathic medical care as well as the historic and current reality of
naturopathic medical practice in B.C.
Thank you kindly for sending hand written letters to the government. Our goal
now is to send in petitions representing 50,000 signatures by the time the
government session resumes in the fall. These petitions are in health food
stores and doctors offices through out the province. Call our office for the
petitions and help us add to the 5000 signatures we currently have!
Dr. Pincott has been practicing naturopathic medicine since 1985 and is currently practicing in Campbell River. She can be reached at (250) 286-3655 or www.DrPincott.com