On Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced increased funding to private clinics in order to provide more cataract surgeries, MRI and CT scans, colonoscopies, hip and knee replacements and other procedures as it looks to ease pressure on an overwhelmed hospital system.
Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones unveiled their three-step plan to deliver more procedures at private clinics.
They both noted that the procedures and testing will remain funded by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP), but critics remain concerned about the effects on hospital staffing and about potential add-on fees at the private clinics.
Step 1 of the plan was up to $8.5 million in annual funding for community surgical and diagnostic centres in Windsor, Kitchener-Waterloo and Ottawa to provide cataract surgeries.
Locally, MPP Mike Harris says TLC Laser Eye Centres in Waterloo has agreed to a deal with the province as part of a move, which is expected to add 14,000 more OHIP-insured cataract surgeries per year.
This represents just 25 per cent of the backlog across the province for cataract surgeries, according to a release from Harris.
The province is also providing $18 million to existing centres for MRI and CT scans, cataract surgeries, other ophthalmic surgeries, certain gynecological surgeries and plastic surgeries.
Down the road, the Ford government will expand the scope of private surgical and diagnostic centres, including more colonoscopy and endoscopy procedures, and in 2024, expanding surgeries at clinics for hip and knee replacements.
— with files from The Canadian Press