Quebec opening 15 long-COVID and Lyme disease clinics

The network, to be coordinated by the Center hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), is to include five referral centers and 10 satellite clinics.

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Quebec will open 15 clinics specialized in long-COVID and Lyme disease across the province, health minister Christian Dubé announced on Thursday.

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The network, to be coordinated by the Center hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), is to include five referral centers and 10 satellite clinics.

Announced as a pilot project in this year’s provincial budget, the clinics are to open in the coming months and remain open for three years, at which point the pilot project will be reviewed and the services adjusted according to needs, Dubé said.

“Long COVID, like Lyme disease in its persistent form, are diseases that are not yet well understood, both in Quebec and elsewhere in the world,” the health minister said in a statement.

“We want to ensure that people who suffer from the consequences of these diseases receive the services they need, like any other patient. The scientific advances that these clinics will allow will also be of great use to us in better diagnosing and treating those affected and, thus, enabling them to have a better quality of life.”

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The latest provincial budget set aside $20.5 million to set up about 15 referral centers and satellite clinics. Of that amount, $4.1 million is earmarked for the current year.

The health department says the clinics will serve long COVID and Lyme disease patients because in both cases can require consultations with several specialists, which renders the coordination of treatment complicated. The research component of the pilot project could lead to greater understanding of the two illnesses because there isn’t consensus in the scientific community, the health department said.

The CHUM, the McGill University Health Center (MUHC), CIUSSS Estrie-CHUS, CHU de Québec-Université Laval and the CIUSSS Centre-Ouest-de-l’îÎle-de-Montréal (Jewish General Hospital) will offer the referral centers. The satellite clinics will be run by: CISSS du Bas-Saint-Laurent, CIUSSS du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, CIUSSS de la Mauricie-et-Centre-du-Québec, CHU Sainte-Justine, CISSS de l’Outaouais, CISSS de Chaudière-Appalaches, CISSS de Lanaudière, CISSS de la Montérégie-Ouest and the Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec.

As of December, it was estimated that about 23,000 people would need the services to be offered under the pilot project.

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