Former Alberta Medical Association president Dr. Paul Parks said the gaps in the cardiology program at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre (RDRHC) should be called permanent and not temporary. While Alberta Health Services Central Zone is doing terribly for access, Parks said people would “think having the Health Minister live in that zone might garner some attention.”“Alas, there is NO PLAN (outside of demolishing what we have),” tweeted Parks on Sunday. .Parks was commenting on AHS saying on October 10 the RDRHC is experiencing temporary gaps in on-call cardiology coverage during overnight hours, with three evenings affected this month to date. AHS said no patients have been transferred to other sites because of these gaps. “Efforts to fill these coverage gaps are ongoing, including collaboration with North and South Zones to explore locum coverage, and we have had some success," said AHS to the Red Deer Advocate. Parks had said five years ago, the Alberta government began saying it does not value doctors and went to war against them. “Next govt came in, pretended to make nice, but still does this: 1) won’t act on their advice, 2) states anyone can do their job, 3) treats them like an expensive irritant,” he said..This ordeal comes after a group of doctors at RDRHC sent a letter to former Alberta health minister Jason Copping and AHS in 2022, saying the surgery program “continues to be on the brink of collapse.” .Doctors warn Red Deer hospital on ‘brink of collapse’.“If urgent action is not taken to rectify the shortage that we are facing, we will be unable to continue caring for the nearly 500,000 Central Alberta residents who depend on our centre for surgical care,” said the doctors. “The repercussions of such a collapse would be catastrophic for both the health system and for patient care, and we need immediate measures to be taken to prevent this.” Alberta Health could not be reached for comment in time for publication.
