12 November 2018 - The lack of formal oversight at private clinics where medications are administered intravenously could pose risks to the health of patients, including cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, according to government documents obtained by The Globe and Mail.

Officials at Cancer Care Ontario and Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care warned in briefing notes last year that private clinics providing prescription drugs by IV fall into a regulatory “grey area” – meaning that, unlike most other health-care facilities outside hospitals, infusion centres don’t have to be licensed or inspected.

Although the briefing notes, released through freedom-of-information requests, speak only to clinics in Ontario, there are more than 350 private infusion centres across Canada that provide IV drugs to patients with diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and multiple sclerosis, among others.

Read Globe and Mail article