Letter to the Editor -
Dear Editor:
Health and Community Services Minister Paul Oram announced this month that in order to improve health services to the Lewisporte region, he was cutting lab and x-ray services to people of that region and also to the health centre in Flowers Cove.
Another option listed by Central Health was cut the part-time physician medical clinics in Hare Bay and La Scie. These are similar to those in Triton and Robert's Arm. He didn't say it was to cut costs, but to improve health services.
Once again, a minister in the Williams government is deliberately misleading the public, just as the Minister of Transportation mislead the public when the Long Island Causeway was axed and their ferry service seriously downgraded.
To state that cutting services will improve them for residents of rural communities is not only hypocritical on the part of government, but exhibits arrogance typical of this government. It sends a clear message to the voters of these communities that 'we (government) can do what we like and there's not one thing you can do about it'.
What the Williams government did do was tell Central Health to review its current operating budget and find ways to cut spending. Government called it "fiscal containment." They will never use straightforward language.
Minister Oram, in a Sept. 11 news release, said "these recommendations were approved by the health authority board and CEO prior to discussions with my department." This is a flagrant misuse of the truth. What the board chair of Central Health actually told Minister Wiseman back in March 2009 was, "The board has asked that I highlight for you that none of these measures can be enacted without significant impact on either our internal or external communities."
It seems that government ordered Central Health to list areas where it could save money; all the possible options Central Health listed amounts to $6.1-million. Central Health's board chair, Robert Woolfrey, and John Kattenbusch, vice-president of finance and corporate services, both warned government that any of these options would significantly impact and have service implications on health care in the Central region.
Cabinet ministers in the Williams government are very sly and adept at forcing bureaucrats to save money by cutting services and then they turn around and put the blame on those very same bureaucrats.
It's time for all citizens of rural Newfoundland and Labrador to stand together and send the Williams government a clear message that we will not stand for this outlandish treatment any longer.
Barbara Colbourne
Long Island, Green Bay South
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