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Cheryl Campbell doesn’t want to see the privatization of health care in Ontario, nor does she want Port Colborne’s urgent care centre to close.
Campbell explained her child, who is now a healthy 25-year-old, was diagnosed with epilepsy and likely wouldn’t have survived without quick access to health care.
“I have a daughter, and I don’t think I would have a daughter now if it wasn’t for the Port Colborne hospital,” she said.
Having access to nearby health care is important to Campbell. That’s why she stopped to vote in an advanced poll for a provincewide community referendum on Friday, May 19, at the Port Colborne Farmers’ Market.
The Ontario Health Coalition is responding to Bill 60 with the referendum to convince the provincial government not to privatize some health care services under what is known as the Your Health Act.
The bill will allow private clinics to provide services, including cataract surgeries, MRIs, CT scans, and hip and knee replacements. The bill has been passed in the legislature but is awaiting Royal assent.
The Niagara Health Coalition (NHC) hosted advanced polls at sites across Niagara leading up to the May 26 and 27 referendums.
“What we’re trying to do with the referendum is raise people’s awareness of what is going on and what the dangers are,” said NHC chair Sue Hotte. “They have an opportunity to say, yeah, you know, ‘I think private clinics are great’, or they can say no, ‘I value our public health care, and I want to hang on to that.’”
Niagara residents have a second question on their ballots, asking if they want current services maintained at Niagara Health, Hotel Dieu Shaver, and West Lincoln Memorial Hospital.
Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch said the public has the right to access public health care, but more privatization of health care would reduce public access.
“We’ve already seen that happening,” Burch said. “There’s an example in Ottawa where they’re actually renting out emergency operating rooms to private companies when they could be through the public system, making those available with properly staffed emergency rooms for the public.”
He’s concerned that will lead to a two-tier privatized system where those who can afford to pay will be moved to the front of the line.
“We see procedures, dropping off the list of things that are covered by OHIP. People who don’t have money won’t be able to pay for certain things.”
Hotte said having private clinics will only add to staffing issues in public health care.
“There’s going to be a loss, a tremendous loss of very precious human resources,” she said. “You’re going to lose the doctors; you’re going to lose highly qualified nurses that are specialized and work in operating rooms.”
Hotte is also concerned about people with medical conditions.
“Private clinics are only going to deal with people that have absolutely no underlying conditions. If you’re diabetic, if you have an irregular heart, whatever your underlying condition is, they’re not going to touch it with a 10-foot pole,” Hotte said.
In an emailed statement to Niagara this Week, a spokesperson for Niagara Health said it could not comment on Bill 60, specifically as it has yet to become law.
Like other hospitals across the province, Niagara Health is “facing tremendous health human resource pressures”, with 550 positions that remain unfilled across the system.
The spokesperson said the issue can only be solved by “a concerted effort involving all levels of government, the community and health care partners.”
The spokesperson said Niagara Health would welcome “publicly funded solutions that create more capacity, reduce wait times and empower the protection and preservation of hospital services.”
— With files from Richard Hutton/Metroland
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: With a bill that would allow private clinics to deliver some health care services, Niagara this Week wanted to get the pulse of stakeholders and the public who were concerned about the impact that may have on the public health-care system.