Leadership | 12.04.21
Doctors Call for Help as Hospitals Battle Surgical Backlogs, Staffing Shortages
by CBC News
Thousands of Canadians have had their surgical and diagnostic procedures delayed during these pandemic times, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) reports. A recent report, commissioned by the association from Deloitte, estimates there is presently a backlog of 327,800 procedures. The research further stated it will take C$1.3 billion in additional funding "to return wait-times to their pre-pandemic levels. This number may be even higher when additional procedures and the cancellation of non-urgent surgeries in several provinces during the fourth wave [which kicked in back in September] are factored in." CMA President Dr. Katharine Smart laments that federal, provincial and territorial governments aren't moving fast enough to get health-care workers and hospitals the resources they need to get patients off surgical and diagnostic waiting lists. In its campaign platform, the Liberal party vowed to "immediately invest" C$6 billion in new funds "to support the elimination of health system wait-lists." That specific funding has yet to materialize.
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