As Canada’s socialist healthcare system flounders, the NDP-led province of BC has resorted to shipping cancer patients to Washington State.

In BC, radiation therapy wait times are the worst in the country. To clear their unprecedented backlog, the province will pay three times the cost to send suffering British Columbians across the border for treatment.

Officials are calling the desperate measure an “interim solution.” 

As of mid-June, 87 BC cancer patients have been referred to the US by their oncologist for radiation therapy in Bellingham, Washington.  

Number of patients growing exponentially

However, that number is expected to grow to 4,800 patients over the next two years. 

This new program launched at the end of May as the province continues to suffer from massive staffing shortages and a horrendous cancer treatment backlog.

The BC government is currently only shipping off patients who need one radiation treatment, rather than those who require multiple sessions — presumably a cost-directed decision, given the government is footing the bill for each patient’s travel and caregiver expenses.

The national benchmark for the maximum amount of time a cancer patient should wait for radiation is four weeks, which about 97% of cancer patients across Canada are able to receive.

1 in 4 cancer patients are unable to get treatment on time

But according to the Globe and Mail, BC’s current rate is 77%, meaning about one in four cancer patients are unable to get treated on time with radiation. 

BC is currently the only NDP-led province in Canada, with the majority of other provinces being led by conservative governments. 

The province still has not hired back the unvaccinated healthcare workers they fired in 2021.