Former B.C. health minister George Abbott says he probably would have made the same decision as the current NDP government to continue expensive drug coverage for a 10-year-old girl suffering from a rare disease, against the recommendation of a provincial advisory group.

Abbott was health minister in 2007 under the B.C. Liberals when the expert group was established to provide advice to the then-Liberal government on treating patients with expensive drugs for rare diseases.

It was created because the government was starting to have to make difficult decisions on approving the use of the expensive drugs coming onto the market, said Abbott, who retired from provincial politics in 2013.

“It’s one of those difficult situations where you can never really get enough good advice on whether to

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