Local health care officials are applauding Ford government's commitment to continuing to fund cataract procedures outside of the hospital.
Since 2020, cataract surgeries in Windsor have been done at a community surgical centre. This was done to alleviate pressure on hospital resources during the pandemic.
"This was desperately needed and is a massive success and would not have been this successful but for us coming together and working in a coordinated and collaborative fashion for the benefit of the patients," said Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj.
Now, the government has committed to using the model in other cities and making it a permanent part of the plan to reduce surgical wait times. This is one part of a three phase approach which includes completing other procedures like knee replacements off-site as well.
"By announcing this today, its shows that they are committed to this model moving forward, so that's very positive. Because during the pandemic we always had to reapply to extend it, I think we went through maybe three extensions during the pandemic," said Musyj.
To date, around 6,000 cataract procedures have been done at the Windsor Surgical Centre which officially opened in 2022.
Critics of the model fear centres like this could pull resources away from the hospital and end up costing Ontario residents more out of pocket fees.
Co-owner of the Windsor Surgical Centre Dr. Fouad Tayfour reiterated that there are no new fees at the centre. He also said he is not competing for hospital staff.
"We don't take any staff from the hospital, if we did that, it would defeat the purpose of it. Our staff are not related to the hospital, we are not competing with the hospital for staff," said Dr. Tayfour. "It is still more attractive for them to work in the hospital if they wish they do so, financially."
The second phase of the province's plan to reduce wait times includes expanding the scope of community surgical and diagnostic centres to include more non-urgent, low-risk and minimally invasive procedures like colonoscopies and endoscopies.
There are no immediate plans to expand in this area in Windsor however, Musyj indicated they are in a good position to do so once the province moves to this stage.
