France Gélinas, MPP for Nickel Belt is concerned that many people living with diabetes are not obtaining important eye care due to cost implications.
She says physicians often refer their diabetic patients for routine eye care to look for signs of diabetic retinopathy, and while retinal scans for diabetic patients are available at no charge when they are performed by an ophthalmologist, patients pay when they are performed by an optometrist.
Gélinas emphasizes the limited access to ophthalmologists in the North means most referrals are to optometrists who can and do charge patients.
The government has set up 15 teleophthalmology sites in Ontario but none in the Sudbury area.
Gélinas hopes the government will make the coverage equitable for both professions.
