BC United promises action as Interior hospitals face ongoing closures

“There are literally thousands of doctors, most of whom are Canadian citizens from British Columbia that trained abroad and want to practice in B.C. and they can’t get through the regulatory and red tape hurdles. And I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again — we are going to take a chainsaw to those regulations and we are going make sure we are going to bring those kids back into British Columbia,” said Falcon.

Recently at the Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake, a closure notice was posted in the emergency department for all patients, except for those “imminently dying.”

“If it was staff that was frustrated than that obviously says a story, if it was IH (Interior Health) that actually approved the sign than that also has a pretty bad story. I don’t think it matters how the sign ended up there. I think we need to understand why it went up — but frankly, there is a reason that it ended up on that glass,” said Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Lorne Doerskson.

Falcon was quick to note that he believes the location of the hospitals is playing a factor in the issues.

“In the Lower Mainland, they wouldn’t put up for five minutes with having an emergency department closed as frequently as the folks in Merritt are seeing it happen. They wouldn’t put up with what is happening at the Cariboo Memorial Hospital,” stated Falcon.

In the hopes of stirring up change in Merritt, Mayor Mike Goetz recently announced his community will be withholding tax dollars, a move Tegart supports.

“It shows how desperate people are and the lack of response from the provincial government. People need to understand we cant just go down a block or two and go to another ER, we are travelling in weather, we are travelling great distances and it’s not like living in an urban centre,” said Tegart.

by Michael Reeve

BC United promises action as Interior hospitals face ongoing closures

Our Community