Feds commit another $2B to provinces to address health backlogs caused by COVID-19

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OTTAWA — Well being Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says the federal authorities will commit one other $2 billion to assist provincial well being techniques work via their surgical and diagnostic backlogs brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The cash, included within the newly tabled Invoice C-17, follows a $4-billion top-up to the federal well being switch final summer season and is anticipated to be a one-time cost, distributed equally primarily based on inhabitants.

All through the pandemic hospitals throughout the nation needed to delay non-emergency procedures to make means for pressing COVID-19 instances.

That has led to delayed look after hundreds of thousands of Canadians, on high of already prolonged wait lists for a lot of procedures and diagnostic exams.

In a report launched final month, the Ontario Medical Affiliation estimated the pandemic had delayed 21 million affected person providers in that province alone, together with surgical procedures for preventative care, most cancers screenings and diagnostic exams.

As well as, it stated docs are reporting that sufferers “who would have been recognized and handled sooner are coming in later and sicker” due to the pandemic.

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“These delays are a burden that may be very arduous to bear for the affected sufferers, their households and their family members, in addition to for the health-care staff caring for them,” Duclos stated.

The Liberals promised an instantaneous $6-billion funding to deal with backlogs through the 2021 federal election marketing campaign.

A spokesperson for Newfoundland and Labrador’s well being division stated this cash “is vastly wanted” and can assist tackle the consequences of COVID-19.

Provinces and territories have been asking for a rise to the Canada Well being Switch to allow them to make extra sustainable modifications to deal with the stress on their health-care techniques.

After a Council of the Federation assembly in February, the premiers known as on the federal authorities to up its share of well being spending to 35 per cent, from 22 per cent.

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In a written assertion to The Canadian Press, Sonia LeBel, the Quebec treasury board president, stated Friday’s announcement “represents a primary non permanent step concerning the federal authorities’s monetary contribution to well being care.”

However she added {that a} long-term, unconditional enhance is required, a sentiment echoed by different provinces.

“This one-time funding doesn’t change or tackle the decision from all premiers for the federal authorities to have interaction with provinces on long-term funding via the Canada Well being Switch,” stated a press release from the workplace of Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe.

Moe’s authorities has promised $21 million in funding in its 2022-23 finances to deal with the surgical backlog, about one-quarter of which can go to the personal sector to extend capability.

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When requested how cash alone will tackle the continuing challenges of recruiting well being care workers and rising surgical capability, Duclos was adamant that “this degree of help at the moment will make a distinction.”

He additionally stated the system must be constructed up in the long run.

“We have to acknowledge that if we don’t act rapidly and decisively, the long-term survival of the common and public well being system Canadians cherish is in danger,” Duclos stated.

He laid out what he known as a imaginative and prescient for collaboration with the provinces and territories on well being care, citing bilateral offers the federal government has made in youngster care and housing for instance.

“Canadians aren’t involved in a jurisdictional debate or a fiscal or monetary struggle.”

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This collaboration will give attention to 5 precedence areas: backlogs and recruitment and retention of health-care staff; entry to major care; long-term care and residential care; psychological well being and addictions; and digital well being and digital care.

Dr. Katharine Sensible, president of the Canadian Medical Affiliation, stated in a press release Friday that physicians help these priorities. She stated COVID-19 has uncovered cracks in a common well being care system that was “not designed to deal with the evolving wants of its inhabitants” and that this has left docs “feeling helpless.”

“Our message to governments at each degree: rebuilding our battered well being system and providing reduction to an exhausted and burnt-out workforce must be a shared precedence,” Sensible stated.

Conservative well being critic Michael Barrett urged the Liberals to go to the negotiating desk with provinces and territories to give you a sustainable resolution to the well being disaster.

Invoice C-17 would additionally present municipalities the authority to cope with transit shortfalls and enhance housing provide and affordability, in partnership with the provinces and territories.

The federal authorities already introduced a switch of $750 million, a one-time cost to assist cities preserve service ranges regardless of decreased transit ridership on account of the pandemic.