HALIFAX - More than two months after a budget promise to fund the cancer drug Avastin, about 100 people in Nova Scotia are still waiting to find out whether they qualify for assistance under a yet to be announced provincial program.

The delay had the opposition New Democrats calling Tuesday for the government to take immediate action.

Party Leader Darrell Dexter said that not only are families having to deal with catastrophic illness, but they are also under financial pressure as they continue to pay about $3,000 a month for the life-extending drug.

"Those people who need Avastin still don't know when it's going to be covered or how it's going to be covered," said Dexter.

British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador have included Avastin in their provincial drug plans.

Ontario announced earlier this month it would cover the drug and has already started paying the cost of the drug.

Dexter said he couldn't see any reason for a further delay in Nova Scotia.

"One would think that...if you were making this kind of a decision, which is essentially a change in government policy, that you would be prepared to implement it once you've made the decision," he said.

In a surprise move last spring, the Conservative minority government announced in its budget that it had decided to add the medicine, which is used to prevent the spread of colorectal cancer to other organs, to the province's formulary.

The change of heart followed mounting criticism from families who said they were hard pressed to pay for the drug on their own.

Health Minister Chris d'Entremont said Tuesday that the new program would be announced within the next two weeks to a month, with funding retroactive to April 1 for those patients that qualify.

He said the delay in implementation was due to workload issues in a health system that is already stretched for resources.

"We do have a lot of people right now who are being treated for cancer with intravenous drugs...this (Avastin) increases the load that we already have and we were crunched to begin with," said d'Entremont.

"We are trying to make up more room so that means more nurses, more chairs and more money."

But the minister's explanation rang hollow to at least one cancer patient who lives in northern Nova Scotia.

Marlene George, 47, of Halfway Cove in Guysborough County, was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in April 2007.

She has been taking Avastin treatments for more than a year along with her chemotherapy, at a cost of $1,500 a session.

"I have a port in my chest ... and once the chemo runs through they just flush it and change the bag and run the Avastin. It's the same person," said George.

George also wondered about the criteria for eligibility, adding that she hadn't been able to get a straight answer on whether she would qualify for the drug coverage once the details are announced.

"There are people that could be using it right now, who can't afford to go and borrow the money without knowing whether they qualify," she said.

The province announced a year ago that it wouldn't fund Avastin after its Cancer Systemic Therapy Policy Committee recommended against funding the medicine.

The committee, made up of oncologists, pharmacists and cancer survivors, concluded that the drug didn't offer the same potential as another drug, Oxaliplatin, used in the early stages of cancer.

George said despite the government's change of heart, she's still skeptical that she'll ever see help for Avastin.

"I'll believe it when I see it," she said.

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