TORONTO - Health Canada has a temporary solution to eliminate a jurisdictional grey area that may have contributed to over 1,200 patients receiving diluted chemotherapy drugs.
The Canadian Press has learned federal health officials will discuss the proposal Friday with top provincial and territorial health bureaucrats.
The goal is to close the gap between provincial and federal responsibilities over facilities that mix chemotherapy drugs for hospitals.
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 Hospital Solutions provided watered down drugs to four hospitals in Ontario and one in New Brunswick.
And both the Ontario and federal governments say they don't know how many companies like Marchese are mixing cancer drugs for hospitals with no oversight.
Too much saline was added to the bags containing the drugs, in effect watering down the prescribed drug concentrations.
Marchese says its products weren't defective, and has suggested that the problem was how the drugs were administered at the hospitals.
