A report released by the Ontario Health Coalition is raising concerns about the unused capacity in provincial hospitals for MRI appointments and surgeries. “The report shows that we have a lot of unused capacity in our public hospitals,” said Windsor-Essex Co-Chair Patrick Hannon. “In Windsor alone we are only using two-thirds of our MRI capacity and about a third of our operating room capacity. He feels funding from the provincial government needs to increase in order to provide extra staffing to make up for the shortfall. In a release on their website, the coalition pointed out the Ford government’s recent announcement of $155 million of public funds to private MRI, CT, and endoscopy clinics. The coalition also pointed out many of the clinics are located near existing public hospitals that have facilities and equipment being unused or underused due to a shortage of funding. “A thriving community requires people to be healthy. Requires people to be educated. This is one of the fundamental Canadian economic issues today,” Hannon noted. “If we want people to be able to go to work, we need them healthy. If they can’t work, they don’t have money to pay so who will benefit from these private clinics that many of them charge additional fees and upselling in order to provide their services?” The coalition held a news conference in 15 communities across Ontario Tuesday.
