WINNIPEG — Tens of thousands of dollars have flowed from multiple sclerosis patients to a Winnipeg-based company that is now coming under fire for "pressuring" patients to fly to India for the headline-grabbing procedure known as liberation therapy.

And the CCSVI Clinic has now come to the attention of Manitoba Health Minister Theresa Oswald, who had said she will be forwarding such concerns to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba.

The CCSVI Clinic — which calls itself a non-profit group of physicians and researchers — recently had been acting as the Winnipeg-based referral agency for Mobile Life Screening, an ultrasound clinic in Fargo, North Dakota.

As part of that referral service, at least 100 patients were tested for chronic cerebrospinal venous insuffiency, or blocked veins in the head and neck that have been controversially linked to MS.

In mid-October, Winnipeg journalist and former CBC broadcaster Ingeborg Boyens was one of the first patients to get tested at Mobile Life Screening through the CCSVI Clinic.

She said she knew nothing about the CCSVI Clinic, other than its post-office box where she sent her payment.

So Boyens said she was surprised when Randy Spielvogel, owner of Mobile Life Screening, asked her how much she paid.

Spielvogel appeared to be "uncomfortable with how costs seemed to be escalated," she said.

According to Boyens, her scans returned only "borderline" results for blocked veins. But in the weeks that followed, Boyens received multiple letters and a phone call from CCSVI Clinic representatives, urging her to travel to India for the vein-opening procedure that she said she was never interested in receiving.

"Alarm bells just went up when they started getting on my case," said Boyens. "I went for a scan. I didn't go to check out if I wanted to go to India."

A CCSVI Clinic spokesman said the company is a legitimate, non-profit agency connecting patients with a new study to investigate treatment protocols.

Liberation therapy — similar to a routine angioplasty — has not been approved by Health Canada for use in this country; many have opted to travel to clinics in such places as the U.S., Mexico, Poland and Brazil to undergo the treatment.