#Alberta #HealthCare Using public funds for #privatization
https://www.friendsofmedicare.org/minister_must_clarify_whats_happening_in_airdries_health_care?utm_campaign=pr_minister_clarify_airdrie_hc&utm_medium=email&utm_source=friendsofmedicare
EDMONTON — Earlier this year, the government informed the Airdrie Health Foundation that the long-overdue expansion and renovation of the Airdrie Community Health Centre had been paused in order for them to consider a proposal to add a private partner to the public facility. Following much outcry from Albertans, the government announced the public project was back under way.
“Allowing a for-profit operator of an Urgent Care Centre in Alberta would be a massive, unprecedented shift to privatized acute care delivery,” said Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare. “We were relieved when we heard the public project was back underway as originally planned. But we’ve since learned that behind closed doors, the government was providing public funds to the for-profit entity to develop a new proposal for yet another privatization scheme for Airdrie’s health care.”
A statement from the Health Minister revealed that the provincial government provided One Health with an $85,000 grant to “develop a business case for its integrated primary care centre and urgent care facility.” In late July, One Health held community meetings to discuss their proposal for an entirely new private health facility, which would include another urgent care centre for Airdrie, in addition to the existing public urgent care centre which is currently being renovated and expanded. All of this has been done without a Request for Proposal or any of the usual public processes for procurement.
“The community meetings left local residents with more questions than answers. Building a second urgent care centre for Airdrie is not based on any sort of community health needs assessment, and is not something that residents or advocates have been asking for,” said Gallaway. “Airdrie is the largest city in Alberta still without a hospital, something that the Airdrie Health Foundation has been calling for. Instead of addressing real patient care needs as this community continues to rapidly grow, the government is looking at a privatization scheme that duplicates services and is based on for-profit delivery.”
Throughout all this, the government has made no formal announcement, or shown any transparency as to why a proposal was being considered for a project already underway, or why they then provided public funds to a for-profit business to develop the new proposal to pitch back to the government. Significant questions about what private delivery is being considered for Airdrie’s health care, how much this endeavor will cost our public health care system, and who would operate what facilities and services, still remain unanswered.
“Is this the start of privatization of hospital services in Alberta? Is Airdrie being used as the test case of a new for-profit model of acute care? Albertans deserve to know that decisions about our public health care are being made based on evidence, not backroom deals,” said Gallaway. “We are calling on the Health Minister to speak up and tell the public what is really happening behind closed doors when it comes to Airdrie's health care.”
