The Saskatchewan NDP is calling on the Government of Saskatchewan to address the issue of rural hospital closures.
Saskatchewan NDP Associate Shadow Health Minister Keith Jorgenson called the actions of Premier Scott Moe, Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill and the rest of the province’s ministers’ cowardly’.
According to the Sask NDP, new closures of the emergency room at the hospital in Kamsack were discovered. In all, at least 16 rural Saskatchewan communities have seen their emergency rooms or medical labs close, or have had them close, at least once since the beginning of June.
“What has been the Sask. Party response to this disaster? Well, you all know it’s been nothing,” Jorgenson said. “They either are lost and don’t know what to do, or they don’t care. Maybe it’s both. This is pathetic, disgraceful leadership. We deserve public accountability. We deserve a plan to prevent these emergency rooms from closing and to staff them over the long term properly.”
Patients arriving at the ER in Kamsack were met with a notice telling them to head 30 minutes west to the hospital in Canora or nearly an hour to hospitals in Yorkton or Preeceville; however, the latter hospital has seen its closures in recent weeks.
Further emergency room closures have been reported in communities such as Watrous, Edam, St. Walburg, Paradise Hill, Kipling, Broadview, Herbert, Porcupine Plain, Leader, Arcola, Kerrobert, Turtleford, Maple Creek, and Biggar.
“We don’t have to settle for this — we can demand better,” Jorgenson said. “We can elect a government that is focused on the future, that has a plan to fix healthcare and ensure it’s there for people when and where they need it.”
Jorgensen’s comments come as Rural and Remote Health Minister Lori Carr is continuing her Saskatchewan summer tour through the eastern part of the province.
Minister Carr is set to meet with local leadership and healthcare staff while visiting health facilities in Nokomis, Wynyard, and Foam Lake.
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