Short video on privatization of surgical clinics

A great new short video from CUPE in Saskatchewan on the privatization of surgeries is right here:

Their had been plans to develop a new $14 million public surgical centre that would perform 7,000 surgeries per year and house a pre-admission clinic to relieve pressure on acute care hospital facilities. It was supposed to be operational by March 2011 - -but the government has postponed or cancelled the plans for the centre.

Saskatchewan sources say instead the government has funded private clinics at millions of dollars with poor results. “Instead of expanding surgical capacity, the region has simply transferred the surgical work to the private sector,” said Gordon Campbell, President of the CUPE Health Care Council in Saskatchewan.

To boot, an existing private clinic is suing the Regina health region for the potential loss of $10 million after a contract was awarded to a Calgary-based private clinic!

Saskatchewan was the birthplace of public health care in Canada. but with a change in government, that has changed, and privatization is now spreading fast.

The same could well come to Ontario. of public health care. Don Drummond (who is heading up the Drummond Commission on public services that will report to government in January) has supported private, for-profit clinics providing hospital services, much like those in Saskatchewan.

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