WCB accesses private care so workers can jump queue

Comments

After being injured on the job in 2004, I required shoulder surgery to repair my rotator cuff. A claim was sent to the Workers' Compensation Board and I was put on a waiting list for surgery.

Within days, I received a phone call from the doctor's office, informing me that the surgery had been expedited and would be performed at the Medical Arts Building in Saskatoon. This operating room is privately owned and operated by a group of surgeons and the WCB rents the operating space so that its claimants can skip the queue.

The NDP accuses the Saskatchewan Party of having a hidden agenda. Yet, it is the NDP government that's secretly using a private health care facility to allow WCB claimants to avoid the long waiting lists.

Shouldn't access to health care, such as urgent surgeries, be based on patient needs, not on the government's desire to save a buck? Just who has the hidden agenda?

Lorne Keller

Saskatoon