AUPE responds to the provincial government’s request for proposals to expand private surgeries
EDMONTON – Public funds should support everyday Albertans, not corporations, says the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE), who are rattled to the bone by the UCP’s plans to expand private orthopedic surgical clinics with taxpayer dollars.
“Health Minister Shandro isn’t just burning public money,” says AUPE Vice-President and Chair of the Anti-Privatization Committee Kevin Barry, “he’s also selling Albertans false hope because there is zero proof that private surgical providers actually reduce wait times. What’s more? Corporate clinics have an incredibly shady history in this province.”
Back in 2004, the Alberta government awarded a contract to the now infamous Health Resource Centre (HRC), a publicly funded, for-profit orthopedic surgery in Calgary that failed Albertans. Not only was the HRC accused of costing the province more per surgery, but it cost Albertans millions more when the province had to bail it out for its fiscal irresponsibly after it signed a lease on a building that extended far beyond its contract with AHS.
Meanwhile in B.C., greedy providers like Dr. Brian Day, CEO of Cambie Surgeries Corporation, have been found guilty of overcharging patients almost half a million dollars in a 30-day period. The courts struck down Day’s Constitutional Challenge, but private providers still have a lot of wiggle room to cheat the public.
“Corporate care is like a blackhole – it sucks up public funds, and we don’t really see where all the money goes,” says Barry. “All we know is that working people don’t see the return because behind the scenes, shareholders are devising ways to turn Albertans’ aches and pains into profit. As a result, patients don’t receive the same quality care that they would in a robustly funded public clinic.”
Barry adds that the UCP’s suggestion that chartered clinics alleviate pressure on our hospitals is nonsense, since governments will often use privatization models as an excuse to send non-emergency surgeries to the profit-seekers, while letting doctors in public hospitals shoulder the costliest and most difficult procedures.
“Kenney’s crew is just taking bread from our starved public system and feeding it to the rich. Our government should be bolstering the public system, not hollowing it out. And it certainly shouldn’t feed profit-hungry providers that will likely just skim the wages of nurses or bust unions to sabotage decent working conditions for their own financial gain.”
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For more information:
Celia Shea, Communications, 780-720-8122