|
Newsletter
|
Donate
Trojan Horse joins the call to end privatization of Ontario hospital services
Posted: November 10, 2024
(November 8, 2024) By: Skylar Soroka, The Journal – Queen’s University
A 15-foot long Trojan Horse trotted to Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) to call for an end of privatized healthcare in Ontario.
The horse was seen on Stuart St. on Nov. 7 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., where approximately 30 hospital workers and community members gathered. As part of their province-wide “Trojan Horse Tour,” Ontario Council of Hospital Unions Canadian Union of Public Employees (OCHU-CUPE) and the Ontario Health Coalition are calling for an end to ongoing privatization of hospital surgeries and diagnostic tests, and demand the government invest in staffing to increase capacity in public hospitals. KHSC consists of Hotel Dieu Hospital (HDH) and Kingston General Hospital.
In an interview with The Journal, Sharon Richer, OCHU-CUPE secretary-treasurer, explained the meaning behind the Trojan Horse symbol ties directly to its Greek mythology roots where the large wooden horse, left by the Greeks outside the city of Troy, hid soldiers inside. The Trojans brought it into their city, and at night, the Greek soldiers emerged and opened the gates, leading to the fall of Troy. The statue has been touring the province since Oct. 4.
OCHU-CUPE is going across the country and encouraging the Conservative government and Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) to fund public hospitals appropriately, Richer said.
The Ontario Conservative healthcare privatization plan, pitched as a gift by Doug Ford and his party, is misleading, Richer explained. Allowing private corporations to handle cataract surgeries, knee replacements, and diagnostic testing won’t solve the hospital crisis. Instead, it’s simply diverting money and staff from public hospitals to private, for-profit clinics.
Ford’s healthcare privatization plan involves expanding private, for-profit healthcare services to reduce pressure on the public system. This includes allowing private clinics to handle procedures like cataract surgeries, knee replacements, and diagnostic testing such as magnetic resonance imaging’s (MRIs). The government argues this will ease hospital wait times, but critics contend it undermines the public healthcare system, diverting resources away from hospitals and increasing inequality in access to care, Global News reports.
“These private, for-profit hospitals are coming in and poaching the staff from the public hospitals, offering them more money and telling them they’re going to have better working conditions,” Richer said.
“If the government redirected the money these for-profit clinics are taking and reinvested it into the public hospital system, we wouldn’t see longer wait times or hallway medicine. Instead, we would be better equipped to staff hospitals and open more hospital beds to meet the needs of our aging and growing population,” she added.
Richer noted at the gathering, two women at the HDH site shared their experiences about their cataract surgeries.
“People were sharing their stories so others could listen and understand what’s really happening. These are the kinds of stories that need to be heard, because if you haven’t personally experienced this, you might not realize that you don’t have to pay for cataract surgery, and that the wait times in public hospitals aren’t actually two years,” she said.
Taxpayer money is meant to fund public services like schools and hospitals, Richer said. However, with municipalities paying up to 56 per cent more to private clinics for cataract surgeries than they would if that money were directed back into public hospitals, that extra 56 per cent could be reinvested in the public healthcare system.
Next stops on the Trojan Horse Tour calendar include Milton, Oakville, London, among other of the province’s cities.
