WINNIPEG, MB (Treaty 1 Territory and Homeland of the Red River Metis) -  In response to the province’s announcement that it is winding up the work of the Surgical and Diagnostic Recovery Task Force, Manitoba Health Coalition provincial Director Thomas Linner made the following statement:

“The Manitoba Health Coalition welcomes today’s announcement. We have been concerned, from its inception, that the Task Force was set up by the previous government to put private profit over public health-care solutions. Doctors and health care providers expressed concerns with the Task Force’s emphasis on privatization while ignoring solutions within the public system. Examples of this include:

  • Signing secretive contracts with private, out-of-province and even out-of-country, clinics
  • Signing one of these contracts with Dr. Brian Day and Cambie Surgeries, the leading voice for for-profit health care in Canada
  • Providing a contract to Prota Clinic in Manitoba, despite it having illegally charged patients for medically necessary care

We are also pleased to see a commitment to focus on investments in the public system. This will strengthen surgical and diagnostic capacity in Manitoba. 

Today’s announcement is a good first step in the process of repairing the damage of seven years of cuts, chaos and privatization. But there is much more work to do, from primary care to seniors’ care and beyond, to ensure that we have a public health care system that works for people, not profit.”

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