The NDP’s health critic says the recent rise in COVID cases has put more of a spotlight on the availability of doctors in rural Alberta.
David Shepherd was on the Trending 55 Hot Seat and says bed closures due to staffing shortages can have greater impact in rural areas where people may have to travel further distances for health care.
“We started to raise these concerns in the Legislature back in May when we saw the first initial closures. First he (Health Minister Tyler Shandro), tried to deny that they were happening, he said we were fear-mongering, and said it’s just people taking vacations, that’s normal in the summer. Now it’s quite clear with the impacts, this is not sustainable.”
Several hospital emergency rooms in our region were closed at different points during the summer.
Shepherd says while these communities have worked on trying to recruit and retain doctors, the UCP government has made the situation worse.
“They went to war with doctors just before the start of the pandemic last year, tore up their contracts and went on a very aggressive strategy of trying to change the entire system by which they’re paid, by which they’re billed, by which they can practice in the midst of a pandemic. We saw very quickly a lot of rural doctors speaking out about how it was undermining their ability to do their work.”
Shepherd was this week’s guest from the NDP on the Trending 55 Hot Seat, the full discussion can be found below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
