Former territorial health minister Don Roberts wants the current Yukon government to offer more than just lip service to local multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and a new medical procedure said to alleviate symptoms of the disease.

While the federal government will not endorse the "liberation” procedure, the governments of Saskatchewan, Alberta and Newfoundland decided last week to fund their own studies of those who have undergone the procedure.

Roberts returned to Whitehorse this week from Costa Rica, where his brother-in-law had the "liberation” surgery, in which angioplasty performed on neck veins appears to have improved the health of MS sufferers by increasing blood circulation.

"I'm not saying the Yukon should fund a study of clinical trials; what I am saying is, ‘Show some leadership and provide some partial funding,'” Roberts told the Star Monday.

"Either to help pay for the procedure itself, or for those who've undergone the procedure and want to participate in other provinces' research.”

Last week, following a meeting of Canada's health ministers – where Saskatchewan, Alberta and Newfoundland announced their "liberation” intentions – Health Minister Glenn Hart said the territorial government would wait before joining those provinces now funding studies of the procedure.

"Basically, health ministers agreed to defer to experts in the field and get that research done,” Hart told the Star.

"And if Alberta or Saskatchewan decide to move ahead (with clinical trials), we would look at contacting them to see if we can piggyback on that.”

Two weeks ago, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) said there is no evidence to back up Dr. Paolo Zamboni's claim that MS can be treated as a vascular disease and that performing angioplasty on veins in the neck can alleviate symptoms.

The CIHR has recommended that Canada wait for results from seven studies underway here and in the United States before funding clinical studies.

But a string of success stories, including Whitehorse's Tim Cant, has spurred the three provincial governments to fund studies that will track the progress of patients who have undergone the surgery.

To date, the federal government is unwilling to fund clinical trials in Canada, and those like Cant who opt for the procedure must go outside of the country and at their own expense.

In June, Cant travelled to Bangalore, India, where he paid $25,000 to have the liberation surgery. Today, the 51-year-old says he's never felt better, and like Roberts, questions the government's approach.

"I was really hoping that either the minister or (Premier) Dennis Fentie would ... make a statement that they would be supporting a clinical trial as well,” Cant said in an interview last week. "I know a lot of people who have MS, and they would love to be part of the study.”

Cant said he's willing to be a part of any research project, and believes his outcome would bolster confidence in Zamboni's procedure.

"I just came from physio (Wednesday) morning and the therapist said, ‘Every time you come here, it's getting better,'” said Cant. "It won't be long before I'll be walking as normal as everybody else. Instead of every day getting worse, it's everyday and I'm getting better.”

According to the B.C./Yukon chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, 50 people in the Yukon suffer from MS and upwards of 75,000 are afflicted with the disease across the country.

And Roberts said there was a steady stream of MS patients from Canada in Costa Rica that had either undergone the surgery, or were waiting their turn.

For his brother-in-law, who had been confined to a wheelchair for seven years because of MS, the surgery offered some immediate results.

"After the procedure, he was moving his toes for the first time in five years,” said Roberts, who was a Liberal Health minister in former premier Pat Duncan's 2000-02 government.

"I was so motivated by what I saw there and everyone I talked to who had the surgery was positive about it.”