We have a constitutional right to free, public health care | Letters to the Editor

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The Ontario health care system is failing us

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I will attempt to keep this short and to the point. The Ontario health care system is failing us, and Premier Doug Ford is the person to blame. ER wait times are out of control, access to medical care is dwindling, and Ford is pushing our health-care system to privatize, rather than our constitutional right to free, public health care.

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Patients are waiting for hours, sometimes days, if they are waiting for admittance, in ERs. The reasons behind this wait?

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Overcapacity, both in the ER and in the hospital. Patients only have one place to go outside business hours or if they do not have family doctors. 24-hour urgent cares and pharmacies are nonexistent, increasing the patient population in ERs and limited bed spaces.

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Understaffing. Let us not forget that, in 2023, emergency rooms were closed 1,199 times due to short staffing. Understaffing increases the nurse-to-patient ratio, decreasing the level of care patients receive. The recommended nurse-to-patient ratio is 1:4 or less on a day shift, and 1:6 or less on a night shift. I have been on a unit where the ratio was 1:11. This increases the risk of medical mistakes, increases the risk of burnout, takes away the ability for nurses to take their breaks, which cycles back to mistakes and burnout.

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Underfunding. The Ford government continues to fail in providing proper funding for health care, resulting in the potential for just over 7,000 nurses to be cut by 2027-28, according to the Ontario Nursing Association. Ford’s plan has been to underfund the public health-care system and instead prioritize privatized health care. Do not get it twisted, this will hurt Ontarians more than help. The Canadian Health Care Policy’s primary objective is,

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“It is hereby declared that the primary objective of Canadian health care policy is to protect, promote and restore the physical and mental well-being of residents of Canada and to facilitate reasonable access to health services without financial or other barriers.”

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The Ford government is neither protecting, promoting, nor restoring the well-being of the residents. I would argue they are neglecting our well-being. Ask yourself, does Ford’s plan respect the criteria of the Canadian Health Act?

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1. Public Administration: The health-care insurance plan of a province must be administered and operated on a non-profit basis by a public authority appointed or designated by the government of the province.

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2. Comprehensiveness: To satisfy the criterion respecting comprehensiveness, the health-care insurance plan of a province must insure all insured health services provided by hospitals, medical practitioners or dentists, and, where the law of the province so permits, similar or additional services rendered by other health-care practitioners.