Bring cataract surgeries back into public hospitals: Ontario Health Coalition
This week’s edition of who is saying what about public health care is compiled by Pat Van Horne.
Patients paying out of pocket for cataract surgeries at private clinics
“It is really out of control,” said Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, to The Toronto Star, June 7, 2025. “Essentially it’s like there isn’t public medicare when it comes to eye surgery in Ontario,” Mehra said. “It’s gone.”
N.S. wants to negotiate with feds on a pharmacare deal
“We’ve put decades of research into this and, really, it’s a no-brainer.… We need to step up, we need to move forward,” said pharmacist Kari Ellen Graham to CBC, June 10, 2025
Health minister says access to family doctors and mental health top her priorities
“We are hearing a lot that people don’t have family doctors, [and] they [do not] have access [to care], etc. So, access is very important for me. And second, mental health also is very, very important for me,” said Federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel, to The Hill Times, June 5, 2025
“I know those two things would be in my priorities, but how we are going to design them I cannot tell you because I’m talking with my [provincial and territorial] counterparts,” said Michel. “I have to work with provinces and territories… I can show some leadership; I can pull them together; I have some tools; but I am not the one doing it. This is why we need them, and they need us. So, it’s a relationship.”
Not moving ahead with pharmacare is a “death sentence” for many Canadians, says former MP
“What exists now was only the first step in pharmacare, and that covers diabetes, medication and devices, and covers contraception . . . There are many, many more Canadians that die because they can’t afford to access heart medication and other medications that are essential for life . . . If we’re not moving ahead with pharmacare, we know ultimately that is sentencing a few hundred Canadians over the next year to death because they won’t be able to afford their medication, and they will die as a result. This is the kind of essential element, emergency element, I think the government has to pick up on,” said defeated NDP MP Peter Julian, to The Hill Times, May 29, 2025
Report makes recommendations to improve health care of Indigenous residents in Northwest Territories
“It was their honesty and their vulnerability and the strength that they have, that lie at the heart of this work. And we hold the trust that they have in us with very deep respect . . .It’s all of our hope that as residents engage with the report and read it, that they truly feel seen and heard and that their voices and experiences are valued and being used in a way to inform change that will ultimately support them in their future health care,” said Preet Dhillon, project manager of a new report that makes 13 recommendations for a more culturally safe health care system, to CBC News, June 5, 2025
Indigenous health centre in Toronto called ‘a place of healing, hope and reconciliation’
“This is a place of healing, hope and reconciliation AHT’s philanthropic arm … (One) where clients are invited to reclaim their identity while accessing culturally informed healing services,” said Andre Morriseau, a director on the board of the Anishnawbe Health Foundation, a new centre that aims to blend traditional practices with western medicine, to The Toronto Star, June 6, 2025
Is BC in danger of importing measles from Alberta?
“Public health should be about protecting the most vulnerable… (Public health officers) need to have the guts to say, ‘If you want to go to school you need to be vaccinated,’” said Dr. Lyne Filiatrault, a retired emergency physician who helped prevent a major SARS outbreak in B.C., to The Tyee, May 29, 2025
Ontario measles outbreak centre of the western hemisphere, says The Guardian
“We have not had a measles outbreak in the community, of this size, for as long as I have practised. Lots of doctors have never seen measles before now. . .There are likely lots and lots of children and families at home who had measles, who never presented to the hospital. The tested cases do not capture even a fraction of what has happened in the community,” said Dr. Asmaa Hussain, head of paediatrics at the St Thomas Elgin General Hospital in southern Ontario, adding that the true scale of the outbreak may be even larger, The Guardian, June 6, 2025
Manitoba to build $1-billion cancer-care centre, construction starts in 2026
“In many respects, our province is doing its absolute best to deliver yesterday’s care because we don’t have the space to welcome the future. . .This facility will change that,” said Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara, Winnipeg Free Press, June 9, 2025
“Manitoba needs a comprehensive allied health human resource strategy to ensure we can retain and recruit specialized professionals to fill that new building and deliver the improved care Manitobans are counting on . . A new facility is important and needed, but it’s not going to fix these longstanding issues.”. added Jason Linklater, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, Winnipeg Free Press, June 9, 2025
Gazan refugees seeking health care in Québec
“These are all things that didn’t disappear when they left Gaza. They’re still there and they need medical attention . . . These are vulnerable families, so them leaving a country during a genocide and coming to a whole new country … has its set of challenges. . . When we add not having access to health care, we’re making them even more vulnerable,” said Khadijé Jizi, a member of the Health Worker Alliance for Palestine, who says that Gazan patients suffer from chronic conditions, gynecological and fertility issues, and PTSD, to CBC News, June 10, 2025
