Tim Clarke has a rare form of lymphoma called mycosis fungoides – a disease where white blood cells become cancerous and affect a person’s skin.
He usually receives photopheresis, a treatment that involves removing blood from the body and then separating white blood cells from red blood cells and plasma. The treatment is done every two weeks at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon.
But because of the mobility of nurses within the hospital, pandemic requires, the service which offers this treatment has only one person who works one day a week.
Result: The patient’s next three appointments are postponed.
I depend on the health care system in a way that very few people can understand, so these disruptions affect me personally
, said Tim Clarke.
If by any chance Mr. Clarke’s treatment is interrupted for more than a month, he will expose himself to serious consequences, such as the appearance of tumors on his skin and eventually die, he notes.
The Saskatoon man says he is approaching the situation with philosophy, because even though the ongoing disruption is supposed to last six weeks, he is not sure of anything, he said.
The uncertainty is appalling.
According to him, the hospital is currently unable to make up for a missed appointment for any reason.
Mr Clarke explained that two machines are used for the treatment and one of them breaks down quite often. To him, it wouldn’t be surprising to find out that it doesn’t work.
The increase in new cases of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan is severely disrupting the province’s health system. The Saskatchewan Health Authority has recently slowed down elective interventions to focus on treating COVID-19 cases. In addition, Saskatchewanians enrolled in the organ donation program will not be able to have their organs removed.
With information from Mah Noor Mubarik
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