MONTREAL – Quebec’s Health Minister Dr. Gaetan Barrette is on the defensive after urging the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) to honour a plan signed back in 2007.
The plan would mean cutting the hospital’s operating budget by an estimated 15 per cent which could lead to a significant drop in the current number of 832 beds.
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“These cuts are directly involving service to the population,” medical malpractice lawyer Jean-Pierre Menard said.
The health minister is asking the MUHC to better manage its budget and transfer at least 30 patients to long-term care facilities.
“Believe me, the MUHC will not be an 832-bed hospital,” Barrette said.
“The plan was, and still is a 772-bed hospital. Those patients that are not supposed to be there, they have to find arrangements to transfer them,” Barrette said.
Services at the MUHC were cut by a third when the hospital moved to the Glen site earlier this year, leading to an increase in waiting lists for treatment, according to patients’ rights advocates.
“The government is not telling the truth about that, it’s impossible to know exactly what’s going on,” Menard said.
“The minister is constantly denying any problem or any cuts in the services.”
The MUHC declined a request for an interview, stating that both sides are currently in discussions over the hospital’s funding structure.
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