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Pr aE ESCRIPTION FO FOR
POLITICAL ACTION

To the Rditor;

Tam ‘writing this letter on behalf of the board of

trustees, ‘the administration and the medical staff of

Mills’ ‘Memorial Hospital. The recent‘ government .
budget is going to seriously impair the delivery of |

health care to the residents of the ‘Northwest. The
government will not listen to us. The only recourse is
intense ‘and persistent political pressure. If the
residents of the-Pacifie Northwest-wish to continue to
have state-of-the-art medical care locally. available
then the time to act is now! The government’s recent
hospital: budget in effect treats us as second-class
citizens: Let me explain. —

.. Jn-this government's recent budget the Minister |

of Finance (Glenn Clark) allocated a 7.4% i increase to
the. “Ministry of Health (Elizabeth Cull); 5.5% was
given to ‘hospital budgets, The only hospitals in B.C.
who: got an, increase in. their. budgets, were hospitals

in’ ‘the: ‘Varicouver area, the Fraser Valley and the
_ Okanagan. ’ Some: increases were in the range of
- -6-8%, All northern hospitals, including Mills Memor-
ial Hospital, got 0% increase. The BCNU and HEU

contracts’ ‘that’ were recently negotiated : contain |
salary increases. These must be absorbed, by the |
hospital with no. increased funding. The: government
expects. Mills Memorial Hospital to provide the same |

services and_ high standard of health care with less .

funds: 'This‘is absurd. ‘Because of this- -budget, Mills:
Memorial Hospital i is faced with a projectéd. deficit: of

over $700,000. As you may recall, the hospital.was

faced with a defitit ‘last. year of approximately
$200,000. The government appointed Mr. Malcalm
Walker to review the situation. He found that Mills _
Memorial Hospital : was the second busiest hospital

for its size in Canada. Forty percent of our patient -

load comes from the region (outside of Terrace).
Walker made several recommendations to the hospi-
tal to help generate funds. These were all adopted
and are functioning. He also. suggested increased
funding: from the government which was forthcoming,

“. ‘Terrace Review — May 8, 1992 _ 4