Danielle Smith says province is working to send unused Turkish pain medication to Ukraine

Joey Chini · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 07, 2025 7:56 PM EST | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her authorities is moving connected a woody to nonstop its stash of unused children's symptom medicine to Ukraine.

Smith told reporters Friday that an unnamed radical had approached the authorities with the thought to vessel the medicine to war-torn areas astir the world.

"We said we'd enactment with them," Smith said.

She added the state is present seeking Health Canada's support to nonstop the drugs to Ukraine.

"They person children who person fevers and don't person medications, and we person agreements with Ukraine to assistance them."

Alberta's authorities paid $70 cardinal for the Turkish medication successful 2022 during a countrywide shortage.

The state received astir 30 per cent of the shipment and, since the outpouring of 2023, has been sitting connected 1.4 cardinal bottles aft wellness officials determined the medicine posed serious wellness risks erstwhile fixed to infants.

Opposition NDP wellness professional Sarah Hoffman questioned the timing of the program and said sending the medicine to already susceptible children successful Ukraine is simply a atrocious move.

"They're already successful the combat of their lives, and present we're going to accidental to the parents, here's, you know, immoderate leftovers that weren't bully capable for our kids," Hoffman said.

In a statement, Health Canada said an exertion made by Alberta Health Services to export the medicine is being assessed.

Lorian Hardcastle, wellness argumentation prof astatine the University of Calgary, says it makes consciousness for the state to effort to find a mode to marque definite the symptom medicine volition not spell to waste.

"We don't privation medicine that could perchance payment idiosyncratic spell unused, particularly erstwhile determination are shortages of assorted medications astir the world," she said.

Hardcastle adds, however, due to the fact that of the atypical determination to procure drugs from 1 state and past merchantability them to another, the state should beryllium afloat transparent astir the information concerns astir the drug, specified arsenic dosing requirements.

"One mode of mitigating those imaginable concerns is to person a clause successful that statement that addresses concerns astir liability for immoderate issues that whitethorn arise," Hardcastle said.

She adds she hopes the state learned a acquisition from its costly procurement of the drug.

Smith says she'll person much to accidental astir sending the drugs overseas if an statement is reached.