EDMONTON -- The Injectable Opioid Agonist Treatment program (iOAT) will be preserved for its current patients, Alberta Health Services announced Tuesday.

AHS has committed $6 million over two years to continue the program.

A reverse decision from a court ruling was made in late February after 11 patients sued the provincial government for its decision to discontinue iOAT, a program they say has helped during the spike in opioid overdoses in both Edmonton and Calgary.

Kassandra Kitz, press secretary to the associate minister of mental health and addiction, told CTV News Edmonton the iOAT clinic itself will close and current clients will begin to receive services at the AHS Opioid Dependency Clinics instead.

This new development is a relief for individuals who’ve been dependent on services offered at iOAT.

However the plaintiffs' lawyer, Nanda Avnish, still has some concerns.

“This is what my clients were pretty much suing for, and we got it.

“[But], no new patients can access the program, a program that the government admits is life-saving and life-sustaining for many Albertans,” he added.

Since the initial closure was announced, “one of my patients acquired HIV because she was forced to go back to street opioids and survival sex work,” Avnish said. “She was abducted and sexually assaulted and acquired HIV because of this…They’ve sacrificed so much in this fight to continue to access iOAT.”

In an email to CTV News on Tuesday, Kitz said the government always maintained the individuals in iOAT would not be cut off.

“The Government committed to support these clients before the court case, during the court case, and after it completed,” she said.