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Memo asks Alberta paramedics to pay for medical equipment via payroll deduction

An ambulance in Edmonton in March 2015. File/Global News

CALGARY — Alberta paramedics are angry about a memo leaked by the NDP that asks them to fund the purchase of medical equipment through a voluntary payroll deduction.

Elisabeth Ballerman, president of the union that represents paramedics, wonders if they next will be asked to take out car loans to pay for ambulances. Ballerman with the Health Sciences Association of Alberta says the government needs to take a good look at planned budget cuts.

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She says something is fundamentally wrong when health-care staff are asked to start paying for their own supplies.

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The Progressive Conservative party says in a news release it doesn’t ask or force paramedics to raise money for equipment.

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Alberta Health says the memo came from the Emergency Medical Services Foundation, a registered charity.

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