A lack of funding keeps community hospitals from reaching their potential
Medical researchers rely heavily on grants from the government, corporations, and other institutes to conduct clinical trials on new medical therapies and interventions.
Government organizations, such as the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), have millions of dollars to allocate to clinical trials. However, applying for these grants as a community hospital is unlikely to yield a positive outcome.
When it comes to the Ministry of Health, there is no direct financial support for clinical trials.
“The Ministry of Health only provides funds for direct patient care activities. So, your surgical units, your oncology units, it’s only for if a patient is coming in, they need a diagnosis, they need treatment that’s already been approved as standard, that’s where the funds can go,” said McPherson. “Not a single dollar is permitted to go to research because it doesn’t fall within that envelope.”
The Ministry of Health allocates annual hospital funds only to patient care, but McPherson and other medical researchers want people to understand that research is patient care.
“So, that’s part of the advocacy is that we actually sit there and go, ‘No, no. Research is healthcare,’ because every drug, every therapeutic, every diagnostic test, rehabilitation plan, it’s all either been developed or refined through research.”