At today’s press briefing about respiratory viruses, Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scoitia’s Chief Medical Officer of Health was asked about the pressures facing hospitals in the province.
“What is it like? What do people need to know about how bad things are?” asked one reporter.
Dr. Strang replied:
Well, our hospitals are full and even a small increase in the number of people needing hospitalization because of respiratory virus infection puts strain on an already full hospital system. And then the same with the emergency departments. The emergency departments are already full. Many people don't have access to other forms of primary care, so they end up in the emergency department. Now they may not have a true emergency, but they're looking for health care from some format. So our system is working extremely hard to to deal with these people as best it can. That's why I push the message that we all need to take this seriously and do whatever we can to keep ourselves as healthy as possible, minimize the chance that we're the ones spreading the virus around and contributing to taking some of the pressure off the health care system.
The government is responsible for making sure there are enough primary care doctors, and that the hospitals have enough staffed beds (which means enough staff) to meet the needs of the citizens of the province. Since when does the public bear the burden of keeping the health care system from collapsing? That’s the government’s job.
I’ve written about this before. Two in-depth articles on the state of the province’s healthcare system before and during the pandemic can be found here and here.
In Nova Scotia, data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) indicate that since 2000, public health care spending has stagnated in real terms. In other words, after adjusting for inflation, the dollars spent in 2019 are not that much different in terms of purchasing power than the dollars spent in 2010, even though the population has increased, and it’s an aging one. When you look at per capita spending in real terms, in 2010 the province spent $2,900 per person and by 2019, nearly a decade later, it had only increased by $100 — to just over $3,000.
And, here’s a visual that speaks volumes. The number of staffed hospital beds available is considered an indicator or measure of the health resources available for delivering services to patients. According to data from the World Health Organization, the downward trend in staffed hospital beds for Canada began somewhere around the time that neoliberalism was starting to take hold.
Where is all this going? Will the sustained crisis ring the death knell for universal (public) health care? Will it finally provide the excuse to usher in more privatization?
Or is it worse? Are we being told that instead of having a right to timely and effective health care, we instead have an obligation to be healthy to protect a system that has been dismantled by successive governments?
Canadians, and Nova Scotians should be demanding that governments fund the system properly, so that citizens are protected. Instead, people are turning on each other and pointing fingers at those who are not doing enough to “stay healthy” and protect the system.
The government has created a narrative that absolves it from responsibility. But we don’t have to let them get away with it.
COVID was the best thing that ever happened to politicians looking to deflect the blame for our failing healthcare system. And now that they have media and a good proportion of the population thinking in a certain way they are carrying right on with the scapegoating and distraction techniques. They won't stop until we make them stop.
Earlier this spring, the Canadian government spent $19 BILLION on 88 new Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets. This aircraft has only one real purpose and that is to drop missiles that kill people and destroy infrastructure. This choice indicates a fundamental rejection of the federal government’s stated claims to care about health care, or to care about the urgency of addressing global warming as a real emergency, or to care about the Canadian government's pre-election commitment to act as a peacekeeping country promoting global stability. Rather, it lays out a clear intention to treat the above as second class priorities in preference to carrying out wars of aggression.
If the federal government put its money where its mouth is, those billions and billions should have been spent on real human, social and environmental needs, such as proper health care for all Canadians.
Another excellent look at reality! Strang is just the bureaucrat lackey used to deflect for the politicians. It would be good if he would take the ethical challenge and call the government out on their bullshit, but I won't hold my breath.
The theme here is the N.S. failing health care system but it applies across Canada.
Sure, we need more doctors and more nurses if we get more beds and that means more money.
But, will throwing money at the system be a cure-all? Is it ever?
It may not be a popular opinion, but I DO think every person does have a responsibility for their own health (up to a point).
Also, having worked in the hospital environment, I have seen a tremendous amount of waste: of products, of unnecessary procedures, of time, of salaries to management and there are more.
Articles have been written about how to address some of these problems and how to stream-line this Industry.
I have no doubt there is likely a greater share of spending going to administration of health care -- the bureaucracy -- as compared to 30 years ago, and I agree, there is definitely waste and over-prescribing of pharmaceuticals and probably even procedures. But spending overall actually hasn't increased over the last decade, while populations are getting older. Clearly, money is not being spent in the right places. I think the system needs a major overhaul, so that more money is going to patient care, shortening wait times, family doctors, nurse practitioners, preventative/ health education, etc. My concern is that the ongoing crisis will be used to justify privatization.
Thank you, I have been thinking this for a couple of years. Health care is a government service, and the endless failures of that service only lead to more victim blaming and crazy demands from government: endless injections of dubious vaccines, face coverings every winter and now MAID. At least scapegoating the non Covid vaccinated is getting old as an excuse now... Also agree that the bottom line is that more Canadian trained doctors and nurses are required. Efficiencies and immigrant doctors as a fix are an exercise in denial.
COVID was the best thing that ever happened to politicians looking to deflect the blame for our failing healthcare system. And now that they have media and a good proportion of the population thinking in a certain way they are carrying right on with the scapegoating and distraction techniques. They won't stop until we make them stop.
Earlier this spring, the Canadian government spent $19 BILLION on 88 new Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets. This aircraft has only one real purpose and that is to drop missiles that kill people and destroy infrastructure. This choice indicates a fundamental rejection of the federal government’s stated claims to care about health care, or to care about the urgency of addressing global warming as a real emergency, or to care about the Canadian government's pre-election commitment to act as a peacekeeping country promoting global stability. Rather, it lays out a clear intention to treat the above as second class priorities in preference to carrying out wars of aggression.
If the federal government put its money where its mouth is, those billions and billions should have been spent on real human, social and environmental needs, such as proper health care for all Canadians.
Thanks Helen. I agree. I think priorities are totally out of whack.
That pales in comparison to what they wasted on the pandemic: https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-trudeaus-covid-spending-waste-included-money-to-dead-people-prisoners-and-people-who-dont-live-here
Just to add to the mix, despite the government spending, inequality also got worse during the pandemic, which is something that will have very far reaching consequences: https://policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/news-releases/one-year-pandemic-canadian-billionaire-wealth-78-billion
Another excellent look at reality! Strang is just the bureaucrat lackey used to deflect for the politicians. It would be good if he would take the ethical challenge and call the government out on their bullshit, but I won't hold my breath.
The theme here is the N.S. failing health care system but it applies across Canada.
Sure, we need more doctors and more nurses if we get more beds and that means more money.
But, will throwing money at the system be a cure-all? Is it ever?
It may not be a popular opinion, but I DO think every person does have a responsibility for their own health (up to a point).
Also, having worked in the hospital environment, I have seen a tremendous amount of waste: of products, of unnecessary procedures, of time, of salaries to management and there are more.
Articles have been written about how to address some of these problems and how to stream-line this Industry.
We should start there.
I have no doubt there is likely a greater share of spending going to administration of health care -- the bureaucracy -- as compared to 30 years ago, and I agree, there is definitely waste and over-prescribing of pharmaceuticals and probably even procedures. But spending overall actually hasn't increased over the last decade, while populations are getting older. Clearly, money is not being spent in the right places. I think the system needs a major overhaul, so that more money is going to patient care, shortening wait times, family doctors, nurse practitioners, preventative/ health education, etc. My concern is that the ongoing crisis will be used to justify privatization.
Thank you, I have been thinking this for a couple of years. Health care is a government service, and the endless failures of that service only lead to more victim blaming and crazy demands from government: endless injections of dubious vaccines, face coverings every winter and now MAID. At least scapegoating the non Covid vaccinated is getting old as an excuse now... Also agree that the bottom line is that more Canadian trained doctors and nurses are required. Efficiencies and immigrant doctors as a fix are an exercise in denial.