Hot off a week-long Vancouver Island tour on the state of healthcare, federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says protecting Canada's public health system is a top priority in the coming year.
on the state of healthcare, federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says protecting Canada's public health system is a top priority in the coming year.
“The public health-care system Canadians take pride in is at a watershed moment,” he said, pointing to Ontario and Alberta, which have announced they'll shift some surgeries to for-profit clinics to ease the burden on public hospitals. People are seeing long waits in emergency rooms or they can't find doctors, and emergency rooms are being shut down because there's not enough staff, Singh added.
The B.C. government announced $30 million in funding for immediate measures to stabilize healthcare in the region Friday, but the cash infusion isn't expected to immediately solve the staffing crisis. Currently, potential candidates have to deal with different layers of time-consuming, expensive provincial and national licensing bodies.
Fast-tracking medical professionals applying for permanent residency in Canada and matching them with communities where health-care workers are needed are ways to realize the full potential of immigrants with medical training, he said.
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