Refugees to suffer from federal cuts, say MDs

Some Newfoundland and Labrador doctors are protesting imminent cuts to federal health care funding for refugees.

In the past, the government paid for basic medical care for refugees for one year after their arrival in Canada under the Interim Federal Health Program but in last month's budget the federal government announced that will change.

Ottawa will pay for medications for illnesses that are believed to be dangerous to the public, such as tuberculosis, but won't pay for drugs for conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure.

Dr. Pauline Duke, a family doctor in St. John's, said some of society's most vulnerable people will be harmed by the change.

"They arrive here with very little, basically the clothes on their backs and some belongings. They come from countries where they've survived war. Many have survived torture, have seen family members killed, have been victims of rape. Some other refugees have been in refugee camps for years. So they often lack many of the normal services that we would accept as basic human rights in Canada," she said.

Duke called the new policy disastrous, and shortsighted. She says denying refugees basic medical care will cost Canada more in the long run.