Dave's great big disquisition, part 2

The following is the conclusion of a speech delivered by Sault MPP David Orazietti on Thursday, March 6, 2204, in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

************************* There are some anomalies in this situation, where an individual might be slightly under the 100 kilometres but needs to travel, for example, three times a week for kidney dialysis and do this all year.

The number of kilometres they're traveling for essential health care is extremely high.

I think we need to take a look at those anomalies and address some of those issues.

The other issue, obviously, is the issue with the Manitoba specialists.

There are specialists in the province of Manitoba who are foreign-trained who may not be recognized by the Royal College but can deliver those specialty services.

Residents in northwestern Ontario need to be able to access those people and get the best health care they can.

One of the other complaints about the northern health travel grant is the processing time.

We have a very antiquated system in place that requires extensive manual processing of forms.

If you call to find out what the status of your application is, oftentimes it's difficult to track because it's not in an electronic form. This also needs to be addressed.

The northern health travel grant cannot be viewed in isolation.

There are a number of things we need to do in northern Ontario to assist in improving health care. Northerners would certainly prefer not to have to travel for these services.

Under ideal circumstances, we would have specialists in all communities, but we know that's not possible.

And certainly many people in Ontario would not want to have to travel these distances if we could avoid it.

But since they do, we need to make this program as best suited to their needs as possible, to ensure that we are breaking down the barriers and allowing affordable access to health care for northerners.

We need to work with northern Ontario municipalities to improve their physician recruitment strategies.

I spent six years on the city council of Sault Ste Marie.

We put in place a physician recruitment program where we provide $40,000 for a four-year commitment to physicians in Sault Ste Marie.

We're pleased to be able to do that.

The Northern Ontario Medical School going forward in the communities of Sudbury and Thunder Bay is a tremendous asset to our government. We're investing substantial dollars.

The position of the NDP is coming home to roost here in Ontario.

The cutting of seats in medical schools has caught up with us. Northerners and people in this province are paying an incredible price because of that shortage.

We need to review the underserviced area program, and we need to have traveling specialist clinics.

I met a couple of individuals in the airport last week who were traveling to Sudbury and then to Sault Ste Marie to provide specialty services to northerners.

I certainly thank these physicians and encourage them to continue to come back to northern Ontario.

These are some of the things that in the short term we're going to need to do to improve our health care.

I want to close by thanking you for listening to my comments this morning.

I look forward to hearing what other members have to say on this issue and look forward to your support on this resolution.

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