For
Immediate Release
November 15, 2004
In the provincial legislature today, MPPs Norm Sterling and John Baird demanded that the McGuinty government immediately reverse a controversial decision to exclude west-end Ottawa in an announcement of new community health care services.
“We have demonstrated that with its rapidly growing population, west-end Ottawa should top the priority list when it comes to expanded health care services,” Sterling told Health Minister George Smitherman during the daily question period at Queen’s Park. “Your failure to deliver adequate support for our hospitals and community care services means we are facing longer wait times and reduced access to care.”
Sterling said that the McGuinty government has always defended its failure to under-fund Ottawa hospitals by saying it would provide more health care through such things as Community Health Centres.
However, when Smitherman
recently announced 10 new Community Health Centres (CHCs) in the province,
west-end Ottawa residents were shocked to learn a well-developed proposal from
the Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre was absent from the list.
Community Health Centres are designed to identify and address the major health problems in the communities they serve. Services include public health education, ambulatory care, acute and specialized treatment, long-term care and rehabilitative services.
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For more information, please call:
Norm Sterling, MPP: (613) 253-1171
John Baird, MPP: (613) 828-2020