Twelve public hearings have been scheduled next month by the Ontario Health Coalition to address concerns about local services in northern and rural hospitals.
The Coalition said they’re inviting the public to bring their recommendations before a “non-partisan” panel of “well respected experts” at a series of hearings beginning March 4.
"Since last summer, we have asked the government to conduct meaningful public consultations as their hospital policies are fundamentally changing the public's access to needed health care," said Natalie Mehra, director of the Ontario Health Coalition in a statement on Monday.
"But when the McGuinty government revealed the mandate of their rural and northern panel last fall, not only does it fail to mention the word "hospital", there were no plans to conduct public hearings until after the panel had completed its work and made its recommendations to the Minister of Health."
So the Ontario Health Coalition decided to set up their own panel so it could hear directly from communities about their feelings on the future of their local hospitals.
"Ontarians fund our hospitals,” said Mehra. “It is unbefitting of a parliamentary democracy to make a policy change - like the closure of hospitals it has taken more than half a century to build - without full disclosure, full consideration of all the options and meaningful public discussion.”
Following the hearings, the panel will deliver its own report publicly as well as to the Premier and the Minister of Health.
I believe there should be hearings now on all the privatization that has taken place in our province to see just what the public got for it's money if anything. I would also like to know before any closures take place of hospitals, what is going to happen with the property? I want the things that are a necessity to even live in this country-things like housing, energy-to be or have public utilities. Our crown jewels have been on the chopping block and I see no benefit for the commoneweal. It is immoral after all the hardship and sacrafice that the people have made to build their hospitals and public utilities like hydro and water and then see them go to some private company-no way can we ever get what we put in back, the reason the public builds things like railways and highways and hospitals and hydro-electric plants is because the private sector can't afford it-how on earth can they afford it after it is all built? Oh, the money that is in the private sector now has been stolen, we can no longer deal with certain finacial entities as we would become accessories after the fact. Canada must stand on guard for the predator's are flush again with tax payers money and looking for new victims- and Prime Minister Harper has opened the door for them at least he said so during the Thrown Speech. I just hope we can get another government before this so called investment drives us further down the path of peonage.