The Saskatchewan government will spend up to $6 million sending patients for hip and knee surgeries to a private Calgary clinic..On Wednesday, the agreement the government will contract services to Canadian Surgical Solutions in Calgary became public..Saskatchewan Health Minister Paul Merriman said the province would not pay for travel expenses to Calgary, just the cost of the surgeries..Merriman repeatedly said any surgeries moved to a private provider “opens up another spot within the public system.”.“Contracting out surgeries is not a silver bullet for wait times. It is a costly scheme with little evidence it will reduce overall wait times,” said Bashir Jalloh, president of CUPE Local 5430, Saskatchewan’s largest healthcare union..“If the Sask Party government can afford to ship people out of province for surgeries, they can afford to invest in public solutions.”.Jalloh said the plan also jeopardizes the province’s plan to retain and hire additional healthcare staff..“There is a limited pool of healthcare staff in Canada, and the privatization of more healthcare services will pull medical staff away from the public system,” said Jalloh..NDP Leader Carla Beck said people being able to “jump the line” if they can afford to travel to Calgary “goes against the principles of the Canadian healthcare system.”.“Even in the case of private surgeries in Alberta, patients will re-enter the public system in Saskatchewan for follow-up, home care, and therapies … programs that are also experiencing backlogs,” said Jalloh..“Across our healthcare system, staffing levels should be increased to reduce wait times and improve quality of care.”.In the Saskatchewan budget, the Moe government planned an $89.7 million increase for healthcare recovery and expansion of services. That included $42.5 million to add 6,000 surgeries as the government plans to return to pre-pandemic surgery wait times by March 2024..“We’re going to maximize the operating rooms across the province,” said Merriman after the budget..“We need to be managing that surgical list as best we can, so some will be delivered privately that will be publicly funded, just as we’ve done before.”
