Patients asked to wait even longer for solutions to doctors shortage
SYDNEY, NS – Cape Breton Progressive Conservative MLAs Alfie MacLeod and Eddie Orrell want to know why Premier Stephen McNeil thinks it’s acceptable to keep Cape Bretoners waiting even longer for doctors.
The McNeil government and the Nova Scotia Health Authority announced this week that the collaborative healthcare clinic that was to open in Sydney this fall is now delayed. The announcement of the new clinic came in June, just two days before a scheduled meeting about the doctors shortage crisis in Cape Breton. Over one thousand people, including worried patients and frustrated doctors, showed up to the public meeting.
“Premier Stephen McNeil and Health Minister Leo Glavine told Cape Bretoners more help was on the way when they announced the new centre with all sorts of fanfare,” says MacLeod, the MLA for Sydney River-Mira-Louisbourg. “Now, like every other broken promise from Premier McNeil, we see they are just paying lip service to shut people up and take the heat off themselves. The motto of this Liberal government is, ‘don’t do today what you can put off until tomorrow’.”
Orrell says Cape Bretoners are tired of being on the receiving end of Stephen McNeil’s stall tactics.
“Premier McNeil has proven once again they have no plan to address this doctors shortage crisis in Cape Breton. He continues his sorry trend of overpromising and under-delivering,” says Orrell, the MLA for Northside-Westmount. “It’s a dire situation and the Premier’s excuses are wearing thin with Cape Bretoners.”
Health Minister Leo Glavine responded that it is difficult to recruit doctors to certain areas.