The Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association says the province is in an “absolute crisis” when it comes to health care, and they don’t believe yesterday’s budget does anything to address it.
President Dr. Susan MacDonald says she has a number of concerns with the budget from a health care perspective.
She says many rural health care centres can no longer deliver sustainable services because the physician workforce is so destabilized.
MacDonald says the situation in central is the worst, noting that many sites have been reduced to one doctor, and within a few months they could have none at all.
She likens the situation to physicians trying to plug a dam that’s about to burst. She says it is a dangerous situation for the physician and for the patient.
MacDonald is calling on government to step in with a plan to save the sites before it is too late.