Recently one of my friends had his scheduled surgery cancelled for April 1 and he called me to let me know that he had also received a letter from Capital Health saying, "We regret to inform you that your booked surgery will have to be postponed. A new date will be given to you in the near future … The reason for the postponement of your surgery is a decision made by the CEO of Capital District Health Authority to balance CDHA's budget and cut back on routine surgical care as the major method of saving money, before the end of this financial year." The letter ends with advising the patient to call his local MLA.
My friend is one of many examples of Nova Scotians who are suffering unnecessarily long wait times due to poor financial decisions by the Rodney MacDonald government.
The Capital Health District has already been forced to postpone more than 1,000 surgeries. It may now have to delay more surgeries because the government is refusing to pay for items such as the district's fuel bill.
The government's refusal to help Capital Health is putting a choke-hold on operating rooms.
Ironically, last June, when Karen Casey was education minister, she agreed to cover school boards' fuel costs to prevent a "negative impact on the classroom." Now that she's the health minister, her only comment is, "I don't think anyone learns a good lesson from a bailout." This is a completely inappropriate and unacceptable position for the minister of health, and the Conservative government, to take.
Health care is always a main priority for the people of Nova Scotia, and it should be a priority of the Conservative government.
The fact of the matter is that as a result of Conservative mismanagement and irresponsibility, the CDHA is being forced to make cutbacks and delay more than 1,000 surgeries. This is a sad admission of a government out of touch with today's families and out of health-care ideas.
The Capital District Health Authority has twice in the last two months had to slow down surgical procedures in an effort to save money. Sadly, these slowdowns did nothing to recruit and retain needed health-care professionals, and only contributed to growing wait lists.
This is a Conservative problem being downloaded onto the CDHA and those Nova Scotians who need, and expect, health care.
The concerns facing the CDHA are a direct result of Rodney MacDonald's refusal to take responsibility for health-care delivery in Nova Scotia.
He has failed to develop a plan to recruit and retain health-care professionals, failed to address emergency room closures, and failed to approve health authority budgets on time.
My friend will have to wait ...
For more information about this topic or any issue you are concerned about, please call me at my constituency office at 464-3805 or stop by for a visit at 63 Tacoma Dr., Suite 303, in Dartmouth.
weeklydartmouth@hfxnews.ca
