A group of about 20 local doctors staged a protest outside Bluewater Health in Sarnia Tuesday morning. Chanting "care, not cuts," they voiced their opposition to a tentative four-year deal struck between the provincial health ministry and the Ontario Medical Association. Dr. Sean Peterson says physician services have already undergone significant cuts over the last few years.
"In the last two years, the government has unilaterally cut anywhere from $800-million to $1-billion from physician services and that cut has real impact," says Peterson.
"We're seeing clinics closing, doctors moving out of the province and doctors retiring early, that's leaving patients without family physicians, delayed access to specialists and wait lists are growing for surgeries, it's already happening." Doctors say the tentative agreement, to be voted on by OMA membership Sunday, fails Ontario residents and will force physicians to ration healthcare, choosing between patient care and budget gatekeeping. The group, Concerned Ontario Doctors, says yearly funding increases to the $11.5-billion Ontario budget for doctors will be capped at 2.5% until 2020 while the historical 10-year average growth in demand is 3.7%.
