Bruce Grey Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker is calling for the province to address skyrocketing wait times for knee and hip replacement surgeries.
Walker says a frail 73-year-old Elmwood resident has had a knee replacement surgery delayed by at least a year due to lack of funding, though he needs the operation now.
Walker estimated thousands of patients across the province are suffering pain due to delayed or cancelled surgeries. He says it is unacceptable that the government can't fund surgeries for patients in constant pain who are no longer able to leave their home.
Last year at this time, Walker voiced concerns over surgical backlogs, pointing to one resident who had a 14 month wait for cataract surgery-- three times the national average.
“After 12 years in government and ten years since launching your wait time strategy, is a 14-month wait the best you can do?” he challenged the health minister and premier last October.
On Wedneday, he reminded the Wynne Liberals that their wait time strategy was still failing patients and putting their health in jeopardy.
“I demand to know why the premier and minister haven’t yet acted on this crisis situation and found a solution so that patients can get the needed surgeries as soon as possible," he says.
