The way “that they raise rales ¥ ra ignore what we want, you'd think they'd bee, elected to to office HE HARROWING experience of a Bowen Island realtor underscores the life-threatening gap between supply and demand of human organs in B.C. Roger Kinnee, 48, is recovering in St. Paul’s Hospital from a stroke brought on by a kidney transplant in India, The fransntant was followed shortly thereafter by a transcon- tinental Might hack to Vancouver. Having waited 36 months for a donor organ through the B.C. medical system, Kinnee took matters iato his own hands and spent $30,000 to purchase a kidney — a testi- mony to survival in the global marketplace, But what should command more attention ‘than one man’s courageous flight for life is the dire need in B.C. for human organs in general and kidneys in particular. With the current success rate of B.C, kidney trans- plants at 95%, the operation, recently experi- ENTE Ee tanned MLL mental, has cut into the medical mainstream. " Today, 285 people await a call that will take them off the sickening routine of dialysis, which costs $40,000 9 year per person. Last year only 107 received that cai), The average wait is 26 months, Since 1990, 44 peo- ple have died waiting for kidneys. Ironically, innovations in, vehicle safety over, the past decade and a consequent reduc- tion in traffic fatalities have reduced the sup- ply of healthy young organs, depleting a once steady source of organs for transplants, This week a Vancouver man received a kid-: ney from his living brother, a selfless family act the B.C. ‘Transplant Society hopes, becomes a regular occurrence. While the trade in live human organs may be abhorrent to many, the selfless sharing of . oneself to give life to another is a defining act — of existence that transcends public opinion. : _ Medi- -pay can help us all ot FEDERAL HEALTH Minister Diane Marleau is reputed noi to be quite the brightest member of Jean Chretien’s cabinet — some- ' thing one remembers when ‘examining her current attack on private medical clinics. She has g given the provinces until * Oct.15 to ban extra billing by such * clinics or fa.> having every extra ~ dollar they bill deducted from Ottawa's health: transfer payments to the province...” . Her reasoning? To protect Canada’s universal public health- care system against the creeping menace of “two-tier medicine, one :, kind for the rich, the other for the : poor. A situation, of course, that already exists, . Anyone with enough money can ~ jump the queue for procedures involving a waiting period in ‘ Canada ~~ bypass surgery, trans’ plants and cértain cancer therapies, ° -* for example — simply by popping over the border into the U.S. * Moreover, according to a UBC "study, much of the queue-jumping in ~ Canada is by patients who “know someone” or have some personal --link with the health care establish- “ment — both of which opportunities tend again to be determined by ‘ income. The specific target of Marleau’ s “wrath are thé numerous private clin- ics that have recently set up in ” Alberta, B.C. and other provinces to provide magnetic resonance imaging HITHER AND YON (MRI), cataract operations and plas- tic surgery, as well as abortion and emergency walk-in clinics. Doctors at such clinics are reim- bursed by medicare for approved services, but the patient pays an additional “‘facility fee” ranging any- where from $25 to $1,000. This is what Marleau — now backed by- B.C. Health Minister Paul Ramsay — is determined to stop. | Noble as that might sound at fi rst tlush, it actually makes ‘no sense al all. Lengthy waiting periods for advanced procedures within the medicare system arise because the system is now badly overloaded rel-.. ative to.the tax money available to tun it —— and Canadians today are in a mood to take to the barricades against ariy higher (taxation. Meanwhile, in all other contexts the rich ALWAYS enjoy advantages over the poor — bigger houses, BMWs, glamorous vacations, posh clubs, private schoois. So what's really so wrong about also using’ their money to skip the medicare ‘line-ups and buy faster service? The point being that, by shorten- : ing the line-ups, they don’t hurt but actually HELP those who can’t afford to follow their example. There’s no question here of descending to the woefully inade- quate U.S. health-care system. Medicare — one of Canada’s finest achievements — will continue to guarantee free treatment for ALL _ who need it, And the more rich patients are allowed to “supplement” medicare with their cheque books by using private clinics, the faster that guaran- tee can be honored for everyone else. Surely you could have figured that out for yourself, Diane! MAKE A NOTE: “Courage to Change” to the brave new world of “the info highway is the topic Thursday, Jan. 19, when Seaspan boss-man Allen Fowlis, FCA, addresses the North Van Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting, 7:30am in Cheers Restaurant —- book (987-4488) by Tuesday. ° i .. And happy 99th birthday Friday, ' Jan. 20, to ageless George Burns. WRIGHT OR WRONG: Figures | never lie, but liars can always figure. quetes of the “Ff you were a sheep farmer and the wolves were eating your sheep and you coufdn’t catch the wolf would you go home and kick your dog?” Dennis Collins — to North Vancouver District Coun. Janice Harris, an advocate of tighter district gun controls — during public dis- cussion of a proposal to ban gun : shops in the district, (From a Jan, 13 News story.) “These efforts to discourage the GVRHD (Greater Vancouver Regional Hospital District) are disappointing, It is a cruel shell game.” West Vancouver Coun. Pat * Boname, on the continued delays in dealing with plans to build a !50- ragilive x We By bed seniors home in West Vancouver. (From a Jan. 13 story.) “Pm so crooked, John, that when I cry the tears run down my. back.” Fron John Rowland’s book Slipping the. Lines, quoting a hotel - owner in Dawson City in a bygone era. (From ihe Jan. 11 Doug Collins; On the Other Hand coltemn. ) . aoe “] was third-runner-up in the Miss Congeniality division.’ . ~~ ‘West Vancouver District Coun. Andy Danyliu, | on his showing at Vancouver's annual Polar Bear swim. (From the Jan. 6 Trevor’ Watermain mathematics Dear Editar: Re: North Shore News, Dec. 18 — NVD watennain tax flood looms. An analysis of the “pressure zones” in our watermains may indi- . cate the potential for over 5 MW of electricity, with an annual energy supply of about 45.3.GWh. And using a cost of capital of 9% with amortization over 20:years, would provide an annuaj gross revenue of $2 million, assuming no taxes but including costs for. operation and- maintenance, If a similar amount’ of. energy can‘ be retrieved‘ from’ units installed in éach of the Capilano’ and’: Seymour dams then we have, .rough- ly, a total annual revenue of $6 mil- lion. Then assuming we borrow. $40 million at’ the required compatible rate of 14% amortized over 20 years, we can then'replace 26.5% of the pip- ing without raising taxes, to an annu- al cost, of $6 million. : Wayne Mulherin North Vancouver ’ Trixi Agrios” . Promotions Manager Vaterie Stephenson . 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