CHAT Photo - Members of the Friends of Medicare, Palliser chapter, meet at Fifth Avenue United Church on Saturday for their annual general meeting.

By Alex McCuaig

FOM AGM

City health advocacy group warns of privatization of service

Dec 15, 2019 | 4:55 PM

Medicine Hat, AB – It’s been several weeks since the UCP government presented it’s first provincial budget but the impacts from it along with talks of job cuts and privatization of some health services has the local chapter of the Friends of Medicare calling for its membership to act.

That was the message which came out from the FOM Palliser chapter annual general meeting on Saturday.

Specifically regarding privatization of health services, Avril Torrence, local FOM chair, says such moves have a history of failure.

“Those experiments done elsewhere have failed and they are more expensive in the long run,” said Torrence. “They don’t provide the efficiencies that the government (says) that they do. It’s not true.”

While the provincial government has hinted at such moves, few solid details have been put forward regarding privatization.

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But the UCP direction may be gleaned from the McKinnon Report released earlier this year. Specifically Recommendation 3 which states, “make greater use of alternative service delivery for day procedures and other services that don’t have to be delivered in hospitals and could be delivered in private or not-for-profit facilities.

Based on that recommendation, Health Minister Tyler Shandro last week announced the provincial Alberta Surgical Wait Times Initiative aimed a reducing wait times by publicly funding 80,000 more surgeries.

“Our plan puts the needs of patients before ideology, relying on private and public partners to achieve fundamental system improvements,” read a statement from Minister Shandro released last week.

But Torrence says the quality of heathcare Albertans receive is high, based on Health Quality Council of Alberta and internal AHS reports.

“People, when they use the health care system in Alberta, they are very satisfied,” said Torrence. “And so we have a system that is allegedly more expensive than other provinces. That might not be a bad thing if we are doing the jobs we wish to do.”

As for details of the Alberta Surgical Wait Time Initiative, the province’s health ministry says it will be supported by cost savings found through the current review of AHS and further information will be available in the next budget expected in the spring of 2020.