Provincial Health Minister Josie Osborne says more work needs to be done to deal with chronic emergency room closures in rural communities.
During Question Period in the legislature this week, Opposition MLAs pointed out dozens of hospitals in rural communities that are closed, or have reduced hours. Courtenay-Comox Conservative MLA Brennan Day said that’s forcing patients to drive for hours in winter conditions. He pointed out the Lillooett hospital’s emergency room has been closed for 26 days, forcing patients to drive two hours to Kamloops.
“Why is this premier forcing people to risk their lives to access basic emergency care?” he asked.
Osborne says there’s a global shortage of health professionals.
“We are experiencing a lot of strain in the health care system right now,” she said. “We have a global shortage of health care workers, and that’s why it’s incumbent on us to do everything possible to train and recruit new doctors to our province, to hire more nurses and more health care workers across the system so that we can deal with the types of staff shortages that we have been seeing.”
In the province’s defence, Cowichan Valley NDP MLA Debra Toporowski also pointed out 1,100 new paramedics have been hired since 2017, helping meet people’s needs where they live.
