By Gates Guarin

Rally will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Rally for public health care happening tomorrow

May 13, 2022 | 2:00 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Rallies in support of public health care will be happening in Medicine Hat and across the province tomorrow.

The rallies which will also take place in Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer and Lethbridge, are a response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and “UCP underfunding and privatization of health care.”

Organizers are calling for more publicly funded and delivered health care, and health-care workers will be on hand to give more information about what they are trying to protect.

Jason Soklofske, board member for the Health Sciences Association of Alberta, says properly funded EMS, relieving stresses on the 911 system and lab privatization are just some of the things the rally is trying to bring focus and attention to.

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“Well we think that health care is vital to protect and defend, and that’s public health care,” Soklofske says. “We feel that it should be about people, not profits, and we had a lot on our plates before the pandemic.”

Soklofske says he hopes for a strong showing of support from the community.

“We’re out there, we’re working hard for this province every day, we’ve been doing it, doing our duty for a couple of years now under this pandemic, and we’re just looking for a bit of a show of support for public health care,” Soklofske says. “You know, the public labs for example really got us through the pandemic and totally saved lives. [It] could’ve been much worse as far as the initial outbreaks and the contact tracing, that’s all vital on our members as well and the public health system.”

The rally will be held Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. just outside Medicine Hat Regional Hospital.