TORONTO - There may be a temporary fix to eliminate a jurisdictional grey area believed to have contributed to over 1,200 patients receiving diluted chemotherapy drugs.
Health Canada will discuss the proposal in a conference call today with top health officials from all the provinces and territories.
The goal is to close the gap between provincial and federal responsibilities over facilities that mix chemotherapy drugs for hospitals.
Marchese Hospital Solutions provided the watered down drugs to five hospitals in Ontario and New Brunswick, but officials say the company fell into a jurisdictional grey area.
A government source says Health Canada will clarify that every facility needs to be clearly identified as being under oversight of one of the jurisdictions.
Marchese has said its products weren't defective, and has suggested that the problem wasn't how the drugs were prepared but how they were administered at the hospitals.
