Beginning April 1st, people with Parkinson’s disease whose symptoms can no longer be controlled with medication will have improved access to deep brain stimulation.
Adrian Dix, Minister of Health said there will be more operating room time available, another surgeon will be recruited to do the procedure and a team of neurosurgeons will take over some of the support work the province’s lone surgeon is doing now freeing him up to do more surgeries.
Dix said it means 72 procedures will be done per year.
“That’s a more than 100 per cent increase in the primary insertion cases that were done in 2016/17 when only 31 were performed. This increase will mean all new patients added to the wait list will have their procedures completed within the current benchmark time of twelve weeks, that’s significantly down from the average wait time of 72 weeks now.”
Parkinson’s is a progressive nervous system disorder that affects movement.
Symptoms may include tremors, stiff muscles, slow movement or problems with balance or walking.
