Saskatchewan medical students are calling for the province to make a pharmacare deal with the federal government. Visiting the legislature Monday, the students told CTV News a plan would improve health outcomes for patients and save provincial dollars. “Patients in Saskatchewan are continuing to make difficult decisions as to having to choose for medications or pay for groceries and things like rent, and we think it’s time to put an end to that,” explained Khalifa Ihmouda, who represents the Student Medical Society of Saskatchewan. “We’re here to urge the [provincial] government to begin formal negotiations with the federal government over pharmacare to bring affordable medications and bring affordable access for things like oral contraceptives and diabetes medications, the same way that many of their neighbours do in Manitoba and British Columbia.” The federal government has signed funding agreements with four provinces and territories to make a range of contraception and diabetes medications free for patients. In 2024, the Government of Canada allocated $1.5 billion over five years for pharmacare programs, and about 60 per cent of that funding has already been committed in existing deals. Ihmouda said this should prompt haste from the province to get a deal signed. “The longer we wait as a province, the less money is available on the table,” he said. Ihmouda said it was very important to get a deal done considering Saskatchewan’s high rates of diabetes, unwanted pregnancies and HIV. Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said he had several discussions about achieving a pharmacare agreement with the federal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Although Cockrill said he had many talks with his federal counterpart Mark Holland at the time, he claimed the issue hadn’t been raised by current federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel so far. “If there’s something that will benefit Saskatchewan patients, absolutely, we’ll look at it, but it has to actually benefit Saskatchewan patients,” he told reporters on Monday. Cockrill said the province already has some of the most comprehensive drug coverage in the country and some of the recommendations from Holland would have actually represented a step backwards in terms of coverage. “I remember saying to folks in the federal government: ‘I can’t go back to my constituency and look my constituents in the eye and say that we’re going backwards on coverage of certain medications. I wasn’t prepared to do that,” he said. The health minister also said he raised concerns about the long-term sustainability of the program. “It’s very important we address this issue because as medical students, we see these kinds of issues every day working in the clinic, working in the hospitals,” said second-year medical student Adam Hussain. NDP MLA Meara Conway said she was perplexed to hear that Saskatchewan’s health minister take such a “passive role.” “It makes no sense that we’re leaving this federal money on the table during basically a public health crisis in these areas,” she said.
