Health care problems within LHIN don’t add up: MPP McDonell

SDSG MPP Jim McDonell. (MPP Office via Newswatch Group, File)

QUEEN’S PARK – Comments from MPP Jim McDonell have painted a picture of a broken regional health agency brought on by its own government policies.

The new head of the Champlain Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), Jean-Pierre Boisclair, was grilled Tuesday by a Government Agencies Committee at Queen’s Park.

McDonell told Boisclair residents in SDSG are waiting months for a family doctor and, while a dozen doctors have retired in the last two years, government policy is keeping medical graduates from coming to the region to practice.

The Champlain Local Health Integration Network is an independent arm of the provincial government with oversees hospitals and health services from Renfrew to Cornwall.

“Our constituents experience the longest wait times in the province for a long-term care bed, yet the LHIN reports the region is over-supplied – it doesn’t add up,” McDonell stated.

Boisclair acknowledged McDonell’s concerns saying it “provided food for thought.”

McDonell later said he wished Boisclair luck in his new position and hoped the LHIN would be able to overcome “shortsighted” and “destructive” government policies.

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