Health and Community Services
December 10, 2014

The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable Steve Kent, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and Community Services:

Minister Outlines Funding Partnership for Enhanced Patient Care Initiative

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise in this Honourable House to speak to our government’s recent funding partnership in support of the Translational and Personalized Medicine Initiative, or TPMI as it is known. I was pleased to attend the launch event late last month along with the Premier and a number of my Cabinet colleagues.

The TPMI is an important project and represents an innovative approach to delivering health care services. It has the potential to enhance care, reduce health care costs and increase efficiencies, and we are very proud to support this initiative with a contribution of $7.2 million over five years.

Mr. Speaker, the TPMI will bring the latest and most innovative discoveries in health research directly to patients in an effort to enhance care and treatment options. It will allow physicians to access a significantly greater wealth of evidence-based research, knowledge and techniques directly at bedside. The potential applications are tremendous and will make a very real difference in the lives of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians receiving care.

Mr. Speaker, three components comprise the initiative. First, next generation hardware and software to help analyze data and inform policy decision making. Second, improvements to individual patient outcomes in families affected by genetic disease such as colon cancer, hearing health, arthritis and others. Finally, applied clinical health research to inform future health policy as a means to decrease health care costs while improving services.

It is exciting to see Memorial University yet again partnering with a leader like IBM, and this latest development further showcases the university’s ability to deliver top quality research that will benefit the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. Together with the funding pledged by IBM and support from the Provincial and Federal Governments, this project will see a total investment of $50 million over five years.

Mr. Speaker, enhancing patient care through innovation, evidence-based research and collaboration is essential to strengthening our health care system. It benefits patients in Newfoundland and Labrador, researchers and the entire health care sector in this province.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

2014 12 10                                        2:15 p.m.