Budget 2022 and Ukraine

In the days leading up to the release of the budget, Jason Kenney was quoted as saying he will be moving more medical procedures out of “union run hospitals.” Give me a break.

Our members are too busy providing care in an increasingly resource-deprived system to run hospitals. But imagine if it was true. Imagine a system based on putting the patient first. The humanity! There is good in the budget. $64 million for the EMS crisis is a 12 percent increase. It’s a start and a win for HSAA, which has been aggressively lobbying on this issue; but even the UCP claim demand has gone up 30 percent during the pandemic, and we know call volumes have increased 60 percent over the past decade. 

So, it’s a start, but nowhere near enough to overcome a problem that just keeps getting worse. And that’s really where this budget is rooted: big claims of “more” or “most ever,” but when it’s all added up – and inflation and population growth is factored in along with a decade of cuts and freezes – it’s clear we are continuing to fall farther behind in supporting public services. 

The current government prefers privatization. Always has, always will. The UCP would have us believe privatization costs less and reduces wait times. We know that isn’t true. We also know there is a global shortage of health-care professionals. The government says it is simply going to sign contracts to double the number of surgeries currently being done at “chartered surgical facilities” – private, for-profit companies. It doesn’t matter which system you fund; you need qualified and dedicated professionals to care for people. While huge amounts of public money continue to be funneled into private pockets that won’t be able to find workers, the public system is slowly being bled. 

There is surgical capacity in the public system that is not being utilized by this government. Six suites sit unused at the South Health Campus in Calgary. Yes, 11 surgical beds might be added in Calgary in the hope it will lead to 7,000 additional surgeries being completed a year, but the government’s own report shows we could have been doing 19,000 additional surgeries a year for some time now if capacity in the public system had been supported. But that’s not the choice being made for us. Privatization of surgeries, labs and EMS is becoming more prevalent in Alberta. We’re being forced to do more of what, I would argue, has gotten us into the situation we face now.

Before I sign off for this month, I want to talk about Ukraine. This is Alberta, and our ties to Ukraine are strong and go back generations. We all have or know people in our lives who are being directly impacted by the commands of a tyrant who doesn’t care about the lives of Ukrainians – or Russians. 

Well…I care, and we care. HSAA members will soon be on the ground in Ukraine, bringing their training, professionalism and dedication to caring for people where it is needed. Friends I have served with on other international missions are already in Poland caring for those fleeing the war. HSAA members are actively supporting relief efforts here at home, and they are preparing for what is to come. Our international partners were telling us to expect 1.5 million people to become refugees. As I write this that number now exceeds two million – half of them children. HSAA stands with Ukraine.

 Our professionals are standing by to treat the physical and mental injuries suffered by those bringing humanity to an inhumane conflict. And we will be there for those forced to flee who will soon call Alberta home.

In Solidarity, 

Mike