Letter to the Editor

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To the Editor:

Re: The Provincial Election and Health Services

Voters should know that the present government is the greatest enemy of rural hospitals in Ontario.

In recent years, there has been a systematic program by the government to wipe out all community hospitals and local boards of governors and replacing them with selected individuals “with skills”, and who often are unknown within the communities which have a hospital.

Kincardine is a typical case in point of most rural hospitals in Ontario. The majority of these hospitals were established by individual donors, charities, churches and local municipal councils.

The government has legislated changes in governance, aided and abetted by provisions in the Corporations Act which permits and protects the governing boards from the necessity for transparency in their operations.

Hospital boards have much more leeway is this regard than do our local municipal councils—both of which, as we all know, are fully financed by our taxes.

Additionally, the government has legislated the removal of physicians from being voting members of these boards. This, of course, means that non-professionals are in charge of hospital functions, including the level and locations of the various treatment modalities.

It also means that patients and their families must bear additional costs and dangers due to time and distance required to receive professional attention. It is also conceivable that when local hospital are closed that physicians and paramedicals will have to migrate to the district hospitals. Does this sound logical to you?

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Sunday, July 24, 2011