www.thesuburban.com<\/a><\/p>\nWith less than six weeks left before patients are slated to be shunted-off to other treatment facilities, Montreal\u2019s health authority (ASSS Montreal) remains silent about the specifics. <\/p>\n
Officials have avoided outlining details since The Suburban<\/i> broke the story last month that the Parti qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois<\/i> government wants Montreal hospitals to offload their patients to the surrounding regions.<\/p>\n
Last Thursday, ASSS Montreal abruptly cancelled an interview with The Suburban to discuss how regionalization plan will be implemented. Health care officials initially wanted to stall until Feb. 20\u2014the date the Quebec government will table a budget\u2014to discuss details. They now say that they are prepared to do so Feb. 26\u2014a date that many observers anticipate a provincial election will be called. <\/p>\n
As described the accompanying report, distressed patients, who are currently being treated at the McGill University Health Centre and the Centre hospitalier de l\u2019Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, still don\u2019t have the foggiest idea what will become of them. <\/p>\n
In the meantime, Health Minister R\u00e9jean H\u00e9bert ousted ASSS Montreal ceo Danielle McCann and parachuted in Patricia Gauthier to replace her. Gauthier\u2019s previous job was as head of the Centre hospitalier de l\u2019Universit\u00e9 de Sherbrooke\u2014in H\u00e9bert\u2019s riding.
\n
Budget trumps treatment<\/b><\/p>\n
Meantime, Montreal hospitals are desperate to shed patients, because Quebec Health Minister R\u00e9jean H\u00e9bert has told them that he will be cutting their budgets to redistribute the funds to outlying regions, starting April 1. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a clinical directive,\u201d H\u00e9bert said in the Quebec legislature, Feb. 12. \u201cIt\u2019s a budgetary directive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMontreal hospitals have been told to expect to reduce their volume of patients,\u201d he continued, \u201cbecause those patients will be treated in Laval and the Mont\u00e9r\u00e9gie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThose budget cuts might stretch out over several years,\u201d H\u00e9bert suggested. \u201cWe\u2019re not talking about a sudden reduction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hebert pledged to preserve Quebecers\u2019 right to seek treatment anywhere they want. He acknowledged last week that to do otherwise would violate patients rights under the province\u2019s health care act. However, the budget move will effectively render those rights irrelevant, as the province starves the urban hospitals of the funds that they need to continue delivering treatment. <\/p>\n
\u201cOffering regionalized service will deliver services close to their home,\u201d H\u00e9bert said in a statement, in which he referred to \u201cfour historically underfunded regions: Mont\u00e9r\u00e9gie, Lanaudi\u00e8re, the Laurentians and the Outaouais.\u201d <\/p>\n
New medicare card to include address?<\/b><\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n
\nH\u00e9bert has also issued a string of announcement promising to lavish taxpayer money on string of medical investments in the province\u2019s outlying regions as well as a new medicare card policy. <\/p>\n
That splash of cash could turn into a tsunami when tomorrow\u2019s provincial budget is tabled. <\/p>\n
The minister justified the budget shift \u201cout of concern for greater interregional equity and to improve care and services outside [Quebec\u2019s] big cities.\u201d <\/p>\n
Health authorities have told The Suburban<\/i> that dialysis treatment for kidney patients and surgery to remove cataracts from patients\u2019 eyes is slated to shift elsewhere, April 1. <\/p>\n
An internal presentation on the regionalization program obtained by The Suburban<\/i> revealed that ASSS Montreal also wants to ship pregnant women needing obstetric care, patients slated for day surgery and stable chronic disease sufferers back to their home regions.<\/div>\n\n
However, a regional health official told
The Suburban<\/i> that those changes have been postponed.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Silence reigns, with no plan in sight By Robert Frankwith files from Kevin Woodhouse www.thesuburban.com With less than six weeks left before patients are slated to be shunted-off to other treatment facilities, Montreal\u2019s health authority (ASSS Montreal) remains silent about the specifics. Officials have avoided outlining details since The Suburban broke the story last month<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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