According to a study done in our medical system, Aboriginal Canadians are
less likely to receive kidney transplants and advanced care.
Peter Nakogee knows the chances are not good for aboriginals seeking transplants in Canada, but the gregarious father of four has reason to celebrate.
The former mayor of a small Cree community on James Bay has finally made it onto a national waiting list. As of this week, Mr. Nakogee is in line for a new kidney that could not only transform his life, but show it's possible to overcome what some consider a racial divide in Canada's health-care system.
The disparities in the medical treatment received by First Nations people compared to other Canadians have attracted growing national and international attention. The latest study says aboriginal people are only one-third as likely to get a kidney transplant as Caucasian Canadians, even though they have more than twice the rate of kidney failure.
"If you're a poorly educated person on dialysis, it doesn't matter if you're here in Moose Factory or living in downtown Winnipeg, you don't get the same level of access," says Dr. Karen Yeates of Queen's University in Kingston,Ont., on one of her frequent trips to James Bay, where she oversees the dialysis unit in Moose Factory, roughly 900 kilometres north of Toronto.
She's the lead author of a new study, done with colleagues from Harvard Medical School and several other universities, that suggests aboriginals get transplants at just 34% the rate of Caucasian Canadians.
Is this really evidence of racism, though? The study certainly points out that you are less likely to get a transplant or advanced care if you are Aboriginal, but that doesn't take into context any other reasons. There doesn't appear to be any evidence that the study is taking individual medical cases into account.
Recent research shows the disparities begin long before people's kidneys fail. Aboriginal people are admitted to Canadian hospitals with severe kidney problems at almost twice the rate of non-aboriginals, many of them never having received specialized care that might have helped save their kidneys in the first place.
All this study does is show us who gets medical care based on skin colour. It does not take into consideration whether or not these people seek care prior to the kidney problems becoming severe.
Canada's Cree people have some of the highest rates of kidney disease and failure in the world, much of it linked to diabetes, obesity and poor preventive care.
Is it perhaps possible that these people are more likely to have diabetes and obesity than people of European descent?
A
study in 2003 found that Aboriginal Canadians have a lower life expectancy, were less likely to be educated, and had much higher rates of diabetes and other diseases.
I think what is more likely here is that the Aboriginals are not considered for transplants because they don't qualify based on medical conditions.
That being said, we need to find ways to help the Aboriginal people escape the cycle of poverty, by providing them with the tools to succeed. But constantly handing out money isn't doing anything, and needs to end. The institutionalized racism of the reserve system needs to be destroyed, or the Aboriginals will continue to remain in poverty.
