Again. Pretty please. With sugar on top.
Globe and Mail- Measles is spreading quickly in Canada. Where is the public-health response?
Ontario’s total reached 1,020 measles cases last week, almost 100 more than the previous week. Alberta reported 137 cases, up from 105. That seems to be the sum total of the public-health response: counting new cases.
Tommy Douglas, finally buried: Facing a possible collapse of the NDP, Jagmeet Singh insists he has no regrets.
National Post- Inside Canada’s shockingly violent hospitals
Who or what is to blame? There are many factors. An increasingly hostile and toxic world. A distressed, overcrowded and understaffed medical system that’s led to dangerous waits for care and boiling frustrations. Violent patient behaviours driven by drugs, psychosis and dementia. And inconsistent or inadequate security in hospitals, with no real accountability for the laxity.
Sun- Debbie’s Law warns surgery patients when wait-time exceeds guidelines
In simple terms, health authorities would be required to tell patients when they will not get treatment within the guidelines for their condition. It’s just a few keystrokes on a computer, and maybe a text to a cellphone, to make patients aware.
Colleen also believes that “at the very least, our health care regions should track details on waiting lists relentlessly,” including those who die while on the lists.
In Manitoba, no such data is collected. Neither the former PC government or current NDP administration have a good excuse why it hasn’t been, except to suppress public outrage.
Best healthcare system in the world.
Michael Campbell’s Money Talks- Shocking Stat of The Week
Blacklock’s- Wanted: 68,564 Medical Staff
Researchers concluded the nation was short 68,564 health care professionals including 22,823 doctors and 41,584 nurses. Shortages of pharmacists and physiotherapists were also noted.
“Overall there are substantial gaps across all study in-scope health professions,” said Health Workforce. “Relative gaps to the population consistently identify larger gaps in rural areas compared to urban areas particularly for family physicians.”
Francisco- That’s not the only problem.
National Post- Canada’s doctors can’t practise anywhere in the country due to interprovincial barriers
When dozens of hospital patients were evacuated by military flight out of Yellowknife as the wildfires approached in the summer of 2023, the doctors who accompanied them couldn’t care for their patients once the aircraft landed, because they didn’t have licences to practice in British Columbia or other jurisdictions.
Replace the word “black” with “white”. Still good?
Healthing.ca- First national Black physician database paves the way for better access and representation in healthcare
“Black patients are even more likely to agree to aggressive medical treatment if they’re treated by a Black physician, so that trust is there and it’s vital. You need to trust your doctor.”
JUST IN: City Hospital Emergency Department in Saskatoon will operate with reduced hours starting tomorrow until February 23rd based on physician availability. Will be open from 9am – 6pm on Feb 15th – 23rd per the SHA.#yxe #sask #saskatoon #health
— Matt Young (@MattYoungCTV) February 14, 2025
CTV- Health-care system audits show worsened patient care, governance failures: Manitoba government
“If the disease in our health-care system is a culture of dysfunction, then the symptom of that disease is fiscal mismanagement,” the health minister said. “Over and over again, health authorities are spending their resources on the wrong things.”
The Times- Long-term sick will need to look for jobs in benefits overhaul
Hundreds of thousands of people could see reductions in sickness benefits payments under reforms designed to encourage them back to work and control a ballooning welfare bill.
Global- 1.2 million British Columbians are currently waiting to see a specialist: survey
The Consultant Specialists of BC in partnership with Doctors of BC surveyed 1,000 specialists and said the results exposed a “waitlist crisis that is severely compromising the health and well-being of British Columbians.”
Trust The Evidence- Reporting a Fatal Event to the Yellow Card System
I can only conclude that the MHRA is hopelessly inept or willfully blind. I suspect both. The Yellow Card system is supposed to “rigorously” and “continuously” “monitor information on suspected safety concerns” – ready to sound the alarm as an early warning system at the first sign of a problem. It seems pretty clear they aren’t doing even a basic evaluation of suspected lethal side effects. I’d bet my experience is not a one-off.
Ottawa Citizen- Patients in ‘every single nook and cranny’ as respiratory season hits Ottawa hospitals hard
Curley said the hospital had been seeing more COVID-19, influenza, RSV and mycoplasma pneumonia cases than it did last year at this same time.
The replies are lit.
The first of two kids from Gaza arrived in Manitoba today to get health care services which are impossible for them to get at home.
City News- First of two children from Gaza to get medical treatment in Manitoba arrives
Province of Manitoba- Manitoba Government Providing Medical Care to Palestinian Child from Gaza
The province will host the young Palestinian child from Gaza with complex medical needs who is unable to receive proper health-care treatment due to the war. The medical care will be led by volunteer pediatric surgeon Dr. Melanie Morris.
Meanwhile…
CityNews- Winnipeg man among 40,000 facing surgical delays amid Manitoba’s healthcare crisis
CBC- Manitoba judge upholds decision denying sisters out-of-country care funding for chronic illness
CTV- ‘Significant number’: Doctors Manitoba concerned about surgery backlog
And what the provinces decide to do with this.
Ottawa Citizen- Federal changes could result in a sea change in delivery of primary care
On Friday, federal Health Minister Mark Holland released a long-awaited Canada Health Act interpretation letter and announced a new Canada Health Act Services Policy. The policy, he said, confirms that if a service is considered medically necessary it should be covered by a patient’s provincial or territorial health care plan “whether the service is provided by a physician or a physician-equivalent.”
That means nurse practitioners, midwives and pharmacists could be paid directly through OHIP and other provincial and territorial health care plans, something that, until now, has been reserved for physicians.
This is not even a case of “the doctor will kill you now”. It’s more like, “Please wait here quietly until you die“. The only “lesson” that needs to be learned here is that single payer healthcare needs to be ditched, and the sooner, the better.
Manitoba’s health minister, Uzoma Asagwara, says the death of a patient who waited eight hours for care in the emergency room at Health Sciences Centre (HSC) is a “devastating loss” that the health care system needs to learn from.
Telegraph- Inside the ‘priority’ NHS services for migrants
Yet here at UCLH, there is one way you can get seen earlier. Indeed, for certain members of society, you can get assessed in just 15 minutes. That privilege goes to undocumented migrants, as well as the homeless and drug addicts, according to its website.
