Pharmacists in Manitoba will soon be able to prescribe contraceptives, the Minister of Health of the Province revealed this week in an announcement that was a pleasant surprise for the industry.
The Minister of Health, Uzoma Asagwara, told the legislature on Wednesday to give pharmacists the means to evaluate and prescribe contraceptives is a “very reasonable expansion of the scope for pharmacists in Manitoba.”
The minister added in an interview that the government is moving “very quickly” about the changes, which will enter into force “in the next few days and weeks.”
“We are trying to get it through the door as quickly as we can for pharmacists from all over the province who have been asking for this for years,” they said.
Pharmacists can also prescribe HIV medications as of this summer, said a government official.
Manitoba, Ontario and the three territories are the only places in Canada that currently do not allow pharmacists to prescribe contraceptives.
Emergency contraceptives, such as Plan B pill, are currently available without a recipe for pharmacies.
“At this time in Manitoba, pharmacists do not have the ability to practice in all their reach, the way they should,” said Asagwara, who promised to “go even further” by granting pharmacists more prescription authority.
Pharmacists Manitoba welcomes the change
The members of the pharmacists of the Industry Association, Manitoba, were in the legislature to see the questions on Wednesday, after they were informed that the liberal MLA Cindy Lamoureux would ask questions about the scope of the practice of pharmacists.
In his first question, Lamoureux asked if the government planned to “enable and train pharmacists who directly evaluate and prescribe contraception.”
The question caused an occurrence sometimes rare in the question period: a direct answer to the question raised.
“The short answer to that question, for Tyndall Park member, is yes,” said Asagwara.
Britt Kural, Pharmacy Practice Advisor with Manitoba Pharmacists, said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the answer.
“We had no idea that there was going to be something around the corner,” Kural said.
The pharmacist said he believes that she and her colleagues can prescribe products such as daily oral contraceptive pills, hormonal injections and IUD, but the province has not yet provided those details.
Currently, a patient should go to the office of a doctor or practicing nurse to receive a recipe for contraceptives, and then should visit a pharmacist to pick it up.
This regulatory change will prevent patients from seeing a practicing doctor or nurse.
“Very often, pharmacists are a first point of attention for many people in Manitoba, because they do not have access to a primary care doctor or a practical nurse, especially in rural and remote communities,” Kural said.
He could not estimate what kind of capture the pharmacists will see, but said that his profession is anxious to help.
Women’s Health Clinic executive director Kemlin Nembhard said it is worth celebrating any step to make recreated birth control more accessible.
The change will facilitate the access of contraceptives for people without a family doctor, or for young people who care that their parents find out, he said.
Although the NDP government of Manitoba has been offering free prescription contraceptives since October last year, Nembhard said some obstacles to accessing these contraceptives persist, such as the requirement of having a health card. It is one of the reasons why the clinic executes a free contraceptive program, completely financed through donations.
“It would be great for us to obtain funds through the province to support that program,” said Nembhard.
Kural said that Manitoba pharmacists would like to expand their prescription authority further. Some options could include recipes to treat smaller ailments that pharmacists are already evaluating, such as the streptococcal throat, ear infections and cold sores, Kural said.
Any movement of this type would require regulatory changes in the province.
