COLLINS: All I want for Christmas…
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…AND YOU THINK MY ANSWER is world peace. I wish.
But I would be really happy if we made a little headway in improving our healthcare system. We ran a guest column last week from MLA Murray Rankin, telling us how the NDP is working so hard to strengthen the system and provide proper care for everyone. He cites statistics indicating how many family doctors have signed on to the new payment plan, how many new nurses, paramedics lab techs and every other kind of health professional have been hired.
I didn’t bother fact-checking Rankin’s figures, because they don’t matter. All his blabbering doesn’t change the fact that a growing number of British Columbians don’t have a family doctor, surgery wait lists are way too long, ERs in rural areas continue to be shut down at critical times, paramedics face too many calls, nurse-practitioners are so under-utilized as are pharmacists, and the NDP is paying lip service to the needs of British Columbians to build their talking points for next October’s election.
Case in point — one of my relatives tore her meniscus a couple of months ago. Very painful, but a pretty quick fix in the OR. I’ve lost count of the number of arthroscopic surgeries I’ve had. Anyway, my relative sees her doc, who refers her to the first available orthopedic surgeon. Not the one she would prefer to see, whom we have a great rapport with, but the first available one. Apparently, it could take up to a year for a consult and maybe just as long to get it done. We’re not talking about a significant surgery and an overnight stay in the hospital like it was when I was young. It’s now done on an outpatient basis and takes less than an hour. This person has to be in pain for up to two years — and Murray Rankin says we’re making progress? How dumb does he think we are?
