SASKATOON - Today, Official Opposition Leader Carla Beck responded to the Sask. Party’s failure to expand mammograms in Saskatchewan and its need to send patients out of province for this basic procedure.
“This government should be doing everything it can to help women at risk of breast cancer, but I’m shocked it’s come to this,” said Beck. “Today’s announcement is proof of Scott Moe’s failures. This is what 16 years of Sask. Party mismanagement gets you. I don’t think it’s ever been harder to get a mammogram in Saskatchewan before. It’s absurd. The longer Scott Moe is in power, the further women will have to travel for basic breast cancer screenings.”
In Saskatchewan, the number of mammograms performed each year has been trending downwards since well before the pandemic. Last year, 10,000 fewer mammograms were performed in Saskatchewan compared to 2017, according to Sask Cancer Agency Annual Reports. Saskatchewan doctors are currently reporting waits as long as June 2024.
While Moe’s government offers fewer and fewer services, other provinces like Ontario have actually expanded screenings for breast cancer and lowered the minimum age for self-referred screenings, something Saskatchewan’s Official Opposition has previously called for.
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