Dear editor,
I read with sadness the editorial of Aug. 3 stating that “Health care reform is needed” and “What we are doing now isn’t working.”
Really? Holy moley. It has been well over 20 years that I have been writing letters to this paper (and to government officials) describing the fractured, broken health-care system that has forsaken the deserving taxpayers of this province.
“Low-grade crisis” you say? Only to those who have no current health care needs. I am sick and tired of hearing how we have a described shortage of nurses and physicians. There are health-care professionals who want to deliver care here. Blocking qualified physicians and nurses from providing care in B.C. because they earned their professional status in another country has become an unrealistic and dangerous standard. They are being blocked by the health authority bean-counters who keep them on a minimal amount of hours (preventing the need to pay benefits) so earning a living here is impossible. Or making the process of accreditation so laborious, costly, and time-consuming that they give up the effort. The government states, “We support work that aims to improve quality of care in numerous clinical areas, and we lead initiatives that align with the evolving priorities of British Columbia’s health care system.”
I say they are full of it.
Barbara Mellin,
Comox