NDP leader issues statement about local air ambulance

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NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF ONTARIO

**************************** Soo patients abandoned by McGuinty government

QUEEN’S PARK - NDP leader Andrea Horwath is supporting the action of a group of concerned Sault Ste. Marie emergency room doctors who have taken the extraordinary step of going to the media with concerns about patient safety.

The doctors raised the concerns about delays in obtaining air ambulance transfers for critically ill and injured Sault Ste. Marie patients.

They blame the McGuinty government for what’s happening.

“These concerned doctors are simply demanding that the Ministry of Health provide timely evacuation of critically ill patients to specialty centres when local expertise is not available,” said Horwath.

“In the case of critical injuries, minutes and seconds do matter. Evacuations of critically ill patients need to be done quickly and efficiently. But when a patient needs to be transported to the U.S. for treatment, the Ministry of Health has refused to pay for the cost of transportation,” she said.

In Sault Ste. Marie, the nearest centre for specialist care is across the border in Michigan.

When necessary, Sault Ste. Marie doctors will refer patients to specialist hospitals across the border to save precious time.

However, in at least six instances, Ontario air ambulances have been unavailable, forcing local hospitals to rely on American-based service providers.

The McGuinty government has refused to cover the costs incurred in these instances.

“Yesterday, the Auditor General pointed to a billion dollars that was squandered at eHealth Ontario. A billion precious health care dollars that should have funded desperately-needed health care services throughout the province,” said Horwath.

“How can the McGuinty government explain paying a billion dollars for eHealth consultants with little to show for it, while abandoning critically-ill patients in Sault Ste Marie?”

**************************** Previous SooToday.com coverage of this story Air ambulance FAIL!!!!