ORKTON – Yorkton NDP candidate Lenore Pinder says health care is an issue for many as she campaigns.
“When I knock on doors all across Yorkton” the state of health care comes up, she said at a press conference in front of the Regional Health Centre today. “People are strapped to find a family doctor.”
When they can’t they must turn to walk-in clinics or the emergency room, which is not a good option, continued Pinder, noting staffing issues hamper such services.
In the past five years health care services have been disrupted locally 72 times, said Pinder.
“That is unacceptable. It’s time for a change,” she said.
The disruptions locally are not an isolated situation, said Nicole Sarauer, candidate Regina Douglas Park who was first elected in 2016. She said disruptions happen at health care facilities across the province.
The situation is such that some doctors and nurses are leaving the province, others the profession, she said.
In response to such losses Sarauer said the NDP will work on “changing the culture of how the government treats health care professionals.” She said they are on the front lines of health care and they have ideas regarding how to make it better, and they need to be listened too.
It’s a situation Sarauer said has left Saskatchewan last among Canadian provinces in terms of health care, which is unacceptable for the province where universal health care started. She laid the blame for the situation at the feet of Premier Scott Moe and his Saskatchewan province.
Sarauer too said “People here in Yorkton” and the province deserve better. That is why an NDP government, if elected would invest $1 billion in new health care dollars in there first term.
Would that include finally building the long anticipated new regional health care facility in Yorkton?
Sarauer was not ready to commit to turning sod on the project at any specific time.
“The Saskatchewan Party hasn’t been transparent about the plan (for a new hospital),” she said, adding before a decision could be made by the NDP “we need to know more.”
Asked if the increased funding would include more dollars for in-Saskatchewan training like the recently launched sonography course at Suncrest College in the city – the first such training course in the province – Sarauer would only offer to get information on the possibility to share with Yorkton This Week later.
Thursday via email she replied; “the Saskatchewan NDP is committed to continuing to fund Suncrest’s health care programs, like the sonography course. Our Grow Your Own Strategy will prioritize Saskatchewan residents for healthcare-related post-secondary seats and ensure that all graduates in our province have immediate employment opportunities.”
Area candidates Wynn Fedorchuk, Canora-Pelly and Karen Horvind, Melville-Saltcoats were also in attendance.