HAMILTON AND NICKEL BELT – Following new reports from the Ontario Health Coalition on the privatization of health care in Ontario, NDP MPPs Dr. Robin Lennox, Shadow Minister for Mental Health, Addictions, and Primary Care, and MPP France Gélinas, Shadow Minister for Health are sounding the alarm over the ongoing crisis in Ontario’s public healthcare system under Doug Ford and his Minister of Health.
“People across Ontario are sitting on wait-lists for MRIs for months, and now we find out that our publicly owned MRIs are sitting idle because Premier Ford and his Minister of Health won’t give our public hospitals the funding to operate them. It’s shameful, “ said MPP Lennox. “We can’t accept two-thirds of MRIs happening later than the recommended time. Not when peoples’ health and quality of life are on the line. We have the publicly owned MRI already, we just need to give our public hospitals the resources to use them 24-7 instead of pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into private clinics.”
"This is the consequence of a government that has chosen to pursue privatization instead of strengthening public healthcare, starving our hospitals of the resources they need while expanding private for-profit clinics where Ontarians are increasingly being asked to pay out of pocket.”
"For eight years, it has been clear that Doug Ford and his government do not care about supporting and improving our publicly delivered healthcare system," said MPP Gélinas. "Instead of listening to the warnings from experts with data and evidence, they have chosen to line the pockets of private clinics owners with the funding and resources that should have gone to our public health care system. This government has a duty to look after Ontarians and provide us with the fast, accessible, and dignified care we deserve."