Right to the front of the line

The optics are not good for a B.C. government that is negotiating to sell 400 hip and knee replacement surgeries to Saskatchewan during the next two years.

Why, health critic Adrian Dix asked in the legislature last week, is Health Minister Kevin Falcon peddling surgeries to another province while B.C. health authorities are cutting elective surgeries to balance their budgets?

Although it is not clear yet if it will affect surgeries, St. Joseph’s General Hospital in Comox must trim $1.3 million from its $70-million annual budget by March 31.
The discussions with Saskatchewan are in an early stage, Falcon responded to Dix, admitting he approves of the idea because B.C. can charge a premium on surgeries for out-of-province patients.

The extra revenue would be plowed back into B.C.’s health care system, which would reduce the waiting time for British Columbians, Falcon continued.

We’ll have to take Falcon’s word that the extra revenue will stay in B.C. health care.

Considering how the provincial government sprung the HST on us and how it ignored commitments to non-profit groups when it slashed the flow of gaming revenue, trust is in short supply.

While Dix’s claim that “tens of thousands” of patients are on surgical waiting lists in B.C. might be hyperbole, there’s no question there is a large number of British Columbians waiting patiently – and painfully.

There’s also no question that the demand from aging baby boomers for health services will intensify in the next two decades or so.

Desperate times will likely call for measures even more desperate than fixing the wonky knee of somebody from Moose Jaw.

Private clinics like the well-known False Creek Surgical Centre is an option the current B.C. government seems to like.

That’s a dangerous game. A two-tiered health system violates the Canada Health Act, which could result in Ottawa cutting transfer payments to B.C. editor@comoxvalleyrecord.com

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