The grants will provide hospitals and independent health facilities with the opportunity to replace existing diagnostic equipment with units that are compatible with modern computerized and digital technologies, capable of providing enhanced imaging quality. Ambulance services will use their funds to replace defibrillators and vehicles. Community health center clients will benefit from upgraded treatment equipment and Cancer Care Ontario will continue to replace and upgrade cancer treatment equipment. The government of Canada is developing legislation to protect the privacy and confidentially of personal information. Cancer agencies across Canada have become embroiled in a patent rights dispute with Myriad Genetics Inc. since the company began asserting its exclusive patent rights for sequencing of the breast cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 .
Canadian hospitals can perform their own hereditary breast cancer testing at one-third the cost.
However as of this summer, the British Columbia Cancer Agency has discontinued testing for these genes and Canada's other two major provincial cancer care agencies, Ontario and Alberta, may soon follow. In BC., hospitals will continue to provide cancer-risk counseling to individuals and families who meet referral criteria for BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene sequencing, but only those families who choose to pay for the hereditary testing will receive the service.