With the provincial government keeping the door open to further privatizing healthcare, the Ontario Health Coalition is speaking up.
The group which represents 750,000 citizens and over 500 organizations says their mission statement is to improve the public healthcare system.
Executive director Natalie Mehra said they were taken back by Premier Doug Ford’s throne speech, and health minister Sylvia Jones saying, “all options are on the table,” when asked about privatization.
Jones was answering questions about how to fix the current healthcare crisis when she made the comments.
Mehra says any thoughts of privatization are reckless, especially during the crisis.
Mehra says they’re gearing up for “the fight of our lives,” in terms of combating any moves that may be made towards privatization of hospitals and healthcare.
She demanded full disclosure of the corporations with which the Ford government has been meeting regarding plans to privatize health care, and she called on Ford to reveal a complete list of health care services under threat of privatization.
It is not known if such lists exist, or to what extent, if any healthcare talks with private providers have occurred.
Chief of Staff at the Scarborough Health Network and Queens university professor and Dr Dick Zoutman spoke to the issue, and says there needs to be compassion.
Zoutman notes that private offices would also pull from the talent pool of public healthcare workers, further weakening the not-for-profit system, at a time where it needs more support than ever before.
We expect an announcement Thursday from the province on plans to deal with the staffing crunch.
Story by Grant Deme with Bob Perreault
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