The number of people waiting for surgery in Ontario is 58,000, Health Minister Christine Elliott says.
The Ontario Medical Association has recommended shifting non-emergency, less complex surgeries to publicly-funded freestanding centres to help eliminate the backlog. The OMA expects it will take two and a half years to catch up on the knee replacement backlog, 16 months for heart bypass and a year for MRIs.
The provincial government is investing $500 million to allow hospitals to operate on weekends and during evenings, and putting $70 million into more MRI and CT hours, Elliott said.
“It appears that what the minister is saying is that there’s nothing to see here, that it’s all taken care of, that, in fact, there is no problem whatsoever,” NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said. “Why is the government just writing off peoples’ lives, writing off their well-being, and letting them suffer for up to five years with pain, anxiety and lack of health care?”
Related..... Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott announced Friday she will not seek re-election after “considerable reflection,”
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