Health Care in Canada November 2010

[Paul Murphy]

15/11/2010

Paul Murphy

Canada’s health care system is worse off than it was ten years ago. This is due to longer wait times, increased demand on services and very little dollars
allocated for prevention. Our food system has been altered and fresh
produce continues to be beyond the reach of our citizens. Food costs
continue rise and some argue that healthy fresh produce is beyond the
reach of many low-income Canadians. Many individuals do not even have
a doctor, and northern regions continue to struggle to keep doctors.
Adding to the problem includes area hospitals doing less and less for
their communities, and thus adding to the demand on services in many
hospitals.

Services that use to be offered by area hospitals have been severely cut. These include delivering babies, and because of these cutbacks the demand has
increased on centralized hospitals such as the Thunder Bay Regional
Hospital. Many citizens in Northern Ontario do not have a doctor,
causing prevention to be missed. Patients are facing longer and
longer wait times and some have resorted to private health care
agencies. Our public dollars continue to be severely restricted and
money for prevention is virtually non-existent. An example of this

is the confounding and confusing work plans that funded groups continue to misinform our citizens with, as it relates to the problem. According to many we
have an inactivity crisis, and the issue of chronic illnesses
continues to get worse. Who is funding the inactivity crisis?

Our health care system in Canada needs to be improved. When Ontario spends 47 cents out of every dollar for health care today, the need for change is far beyond
critical. Now is the time for real accountability. The notion of
shared accountability just might create the change needed. Perhaps we
could create a food system that supports food security by offering
food affordability, for all Canadians. Chronic illnesses such as
childhood obesity continue to grow. The economic down turn and more
low paying jobs continue to add to the overall problem. Our health
care system continues to fail to address preventable and very complex
health issues due to a lack of prevention efforts. Our health care
system continues to be reactive in nature, and the concept of
supporting funding prevention type models continue to be missed. This
lack of vision continues to overburden our health care service
providers. Pay now, or pay later.

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