Adrienne Silnicki, Angela Giles and John Hutton.
Council of Canadians health care campaigner Adrienne Silnicki and John Hutton of the Nova Scotia Citizen’s Health Care Network write in the Chronicle Herald, “It is disappointing that NDP Health Minister Dave Wilson has chosen to renew a government contract with Scotia Surgery.”
They explain, “The contract, worth $1 million to the for-profit clinic to perform 500 surgeries per year, raises a lot of unanswered questions. Beyond the questionable ethics of making medically necessary care a for-profit business, one has to ask if renewing the contract, intended to reduce wait lists, is an efficient use of the public’s health care dollars. Given the poor track record of private-public partnerships in Canada, intense scrutiny and broad public consultation are warranted.”
Silnicki and Hutton conclude, “Private health care costs more, provides lower quality of care and does not have the transparency and accountability that we deserve and expect. Instead of endlessly signing contracts with Scotia Surgery, the government should invest in expanding public health care for the best possible value and service to Nova Scotians.”
They also note, “Signed in 2008 and renewed a year later, the Scotia Surgery contract is a holdover from the Progressive Conservative government of Rodney MacDonald.” To read our March 2008 ‘ACTION ALERT: Demand the Nova Scotia government rescind contract with private health care clinic’ by Atlantic organizer Angela Giles, go to http://canadians.org/action/2008/20-Mar-08.html.
To read the op-ed, please go to http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/884381-pay-more-get-less-private-health-care-wrong-way-to-go.
