Health privatization rises to new levels, says coalition

Hundreds join "S O S" protests.

from the Ontario Health Coalition

More than a thousand people in communities across Ontario held candlelight vigils and rallies outside local hospitals March 4 to protest privatization and cuts to hospital services.

Organized by the Ontario Health Coalition, "S O S — Save Our Services" rallies protested the $3 billion cuts in health spending featured in the government's recent budget.

While the health ministry states that home care will take up the slack in hospital services, according to the coalition, the cuts are hospital services such as surgeries that cannot be replaced by home or community care.

"The health minister is trying to cover up the cuts propagated by her government by saying that she is 'transforming' the system not cutting it. This is patently false. The cuts and privatization we are seeing now exceed the previous extreme of cuts to and privatization of clinical services that we saw in the mid-1990s."

In smaller communities, the cuts range from 10 percent to almost 50 percent of existing hospital beds, she said. In larger cities, deficits ranging from $20 million to $40 million have been created by hospital funding cuts, resulting in bed closures and service cuts.

Hundreds of registered nurse positions are to be cut, said Vicki McKenna, First Vice-President of the Ontario Nurses' Association.

"The impact of cuts to hospital services as a result of government hospital funding reform means less care provided by fewer registered nurses," said McKenna. "This is happening at a time when Ontario already has the second-lowest ratio of RNs to population in the country and will result in higher readmission rates and increasing costs."

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