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Elect candidates who will ensure us a return to local control of our hospitals |
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We are halfway through the first month of what we believe will be a most critical year in the lives of our hospitals and of the present government. The present government has systematically done everything in its power to get rid of the hundreds of members of the public from any decision-making capacity, especially in relation to the primary secondary care facilities throughout the province. These unpaid volunteers, and now the medical staff of their hospitals, have been barred from any meaningful input into the management of their hospitals. The Ontario Ministry of Health has already declared war by threatening closure and the existence of all rural hospitals. It has bought into the idea that “bigger is better and cheaper” – even though this has been disproved by the forced amalgamation of municipalities throughout the province. The quest for “savings" has led to the employment of staff in the Ministry of Health whose sole aim is to reduce costs by any and every manner of means available. This staff has converted the ministry into a mode of operations similar to the extremely cost-conscious automobile industry, heartless as it is. An example of this is the plight of a patient (in London) who has a very rare skin infection which was very difficult to diagnose. A medical specialist associated with Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, no less, diagnosed and prescribed a drug which would cost $300 - monthly. It was denied by some uncaring health ministry staffer on the weak grounds that “this (rarely prescribed) drug had not been evaluated for its proposed usage”. Even the minister of health could not, or would not, interfere in this matter. It is this same ministry which funds “gender-re-assignment surgery” (sex change) which costs hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars. How can the ministry deny a patient a drug which will enable her to live a reasonably normal life and enable her to work in order to support herself?
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The health ministry's uncaring
attitude can be seen in many other examples, including the reference to sick
and elderly patients as “Bed Blockers". These same patients throughout
their lifetime worked long and hard to enable us to have the benefits offered to us in the
Canada Health Act. I think not! What we want, and need, when illness or injuries strike, is a humanistic response from the caregivers provided, firstly, by our local health team members. The first cure for this abominable situation is to elect only candidates (and parties) who will ensure us a return to local control of our hospitals. We will get what we vote for! Ian Mitchell Scrolling stops when you move your mouse inside the scroll area. You can click on the ads for more
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