Alberta premier Ralph Klein, whose government shut down a number of public hospitals and reduced hospital beds by half, claims that Bill 11, the so-called Health Care Protection Act, will not create private hospitals. The bill, however, narrowly defines hospitals as "buildings that have emergency services."

This opens the door for private facilities to provide a wide range of nonemergency surgical services, including those requiring extended stays. The bill does not allow the for-profit facilities to do major surgery but, in a direct conflict of interest, it leaves the definition of what is major and what is minor up to the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Many doctors have large investments in the growing number of private clinics where patients are encouraged to purchase additional profitable services.

This crisis in Alberta and across Canada has sparked resistance. On the day the Alberta government introduced Bill 11, some 100 protesters showed up at the Alberta legislature in Edmonton with signs reading, "Wealth should not buy health," and "No to Private Hospitals."

Over the past two years, nurses across Canada have taken the lead in fighting deteriorating health care. In a series of province-wide strikes, nurses demanded the hiring of thousands of more nurses to reverse the years of cuts.

In Saskatchewan and Quebec, nurses refused to end their strikes in the face of back-to-work legislation by the same governments they were striking against. These walkouts received overwhelming support from working people, and the governments were forced to respond with promises to hire more nurses.

The Klein government's argument that private facilities will reduce long waiting lists for surgery, frequently citing as an example the waits for hip replacement, has already begun to unwind. The Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons declared the day after the bill was introduced that due to its complexity and the need for postoperative follow-up, hip-joint replacement surgery required the services of a full-service, public hospital.

A study done by the Alberta branch of the Consumers Association of Canada shows that in Calgary, where virtually all eye surgery is done in private clinics, patients wait 16 to 20 weeks for a cataract operation. In Edmonton, where 80 percent of the work is done in public facilities, patients wait five to seven weeks.

The shortest waits are in Lethbridge where all cataract surgeries are done in public hospitals.

Governments in every province have been following the same course, including dropping services such as annual physical or eye exams from coverage by Medicare, Canada's publicly funded health insurance. Prince Edward Island refuses to allow or fund abortion services.

These and other measures have led to an increase in the proportion of health-care spending coming out of individual pockets, from about 25 percent two decades ago to 31.3 percent today.  
 

Ottawa's share of health funding falls

Cuts in transfer payments by the federal government to the provinces reached $36 billion by the end of the 1990s. Facing rising criticism from provincial premiers and others, the government restored a portion of that sum over the last two years. Since the mid-1960s, when Medicare was established, the federal government's share of public health-care funding has fallen from 50 percent to 13 percent, with the difference being shouldered by provincial governments.

The deteriorating situation in health care was starkly seen this winter with almost daily reports from across Canada of overcrowded emergency rooms where patients are kept on stretchers in hallways and linen closets, or not even let in the door. An 18-year-old suffering from severe asthma died when his ambulance was redirected to a more distant hospital from the nearest emergency department minutes away because it could take no more patients.

The health-care crisis has had a severe effect upon those who work in the system. Burnout due to understaffing and incessant overtime is one of the main reasons for a shortage of operating room nurses and physicians. Research done last year says that 60 percent of health-care workers in emergency rooms across Canada have been assaulted, and half of them say that violence is impairing the quality of care.

Mike Barker is a member of the Hospital Employees Union.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home