A group of about 20 rallied outside Champlain Place mall in Moncton, N.B., Friday, calling on government to invest more in public health care and cut out private sector companies.
The NB Health Coalition says a “major reorganization” of the health-care sector is needed, and the Department of Health should take on the management of all health services.
“The government must stop dismantling our public health-care system and start improving and modernizing it,” said Bernadette Landry, coalition co-chair, in a news release.
The group says responsibility for senior care — including nursing homes, special care homes and home care — should be transferred to the Department of Health from the Department of Social Development.
“Tear down those silos, have those different sectors in the health care system talking to each other,” coalition co-chair Daniel Légère told CTV News.
The coalition says government should stop using private companies — like Medavie Blue Cross — to deliver health-care services altogether.
Currently, Medavie manages the Extra-mural hospital, Ambulance NB, Tele-Care NB and NB Health Link programs.
“If [Health Minister Bruce] Fitch wants to retain existing staff, he must ensure that the employees who make our system work are valued, that they are allowed to find a balance between work and family life, that their salaries and benefits are improved, and stop using private for-profit agencies to provide nursing staff,” Légère said in the release.
A 10-page document released by the coalition — "Health Care Crisis: The Time to Act is Now” — puts forward solutions the group says would “greatly improve and modernize our public health-care system.”
In it, the coalition says it is worried by the Higgs’ government’s opening of the public system to private non-profit and for-profit companies.
“This government is using the present health crisis to try to convince citizens that there are no other alternatives,” the document says. “We beg to differ.”
The paper touches on everything from how the coalition thinks decisions on health care should be made, to how virtual health services should be handled. But its largest section is on integration of the health-care system.
The current system is “fragmented” by a mix of public/ private service providers, says the document.
“We propose bringing back to the Department of Health the services that are presently managed by Medavie Blue Cross,” says the coalition.
“We also propose that all organizations or companies operating nursing homes, special care homes and home care services be gradually brought under the public system.”
The coalition itself is made-up, largely, of health-care labour union groups, like the NB Council of Hospital Unions, and community advocacy groups, like the NB Senior Citizens Federation.
It holds an office on Edmonton Avenue in Moncton.
CTV News reached out to health minister bruce fitch for a response to the rally, but has not yet heard back.
