The Ontario Liberals are calling on Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones to break the week-long silence and address the growing closings of hospital emergency rooms and intensive care units.
“The nurses are showing up. The doctors appear. The paramedics show up. Throughout the system, the people who care about the people we care about the most appear. Why the minister [of health] and Premier Ford can’t show up?” Ontario Liberal MP John Fraser said at Queen’s Park on Tuesday morning.
Although Jones has made several public appearances since being appointed to her new role on June 24, she has not addressed the staffing crisis that has led to dozens of hospital closings. The Prime Minister has also not addressed the ongoing problem.
CTV News Toronto and CP24 have reached out to the minister for an interview multiple times since she was sworn in, but each attempt has been denied.
The last request was sent on Tuesday morning.
In a statement released last week, a spokesman for Jones acknowledged that Ontario’s health care system is under pressure due to the challenge of maintaining necessary staffing levels.
The Ontario Nurses Association says its members reported about 25 hospitals were forced to make changes over the long weekend due to staffing shortages across the province.
“Both [they] they had to reduce capacity in their emergency departments, operating rooms, beds, labor and delivery of patients who had to be transferred to other hospitals. It’s absolutely outrageous,” Ontario Nurses Association president Catherine Hoy said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Dr. Adil Shamji, an emergency physician and Liberal MPP for Don Valley East, says 13 different emergency departments in the province have been forced to close. “And that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
It follows news that an entire intensive care unit at a Bowmanville hospital has been temporarily closed ahead of the long weekend.
Shamjo said he resorted to sending Jones a letter after multiple emails went unanswered.
Fraser insisted there are measures available in the province that “should have been taken by now,” including repealing Bill 124, which caps nurse pay increases at one per cent.
He also called on the province to add more mental health benefits, 10 paid sick days for all Ontario workers and speeding up credentials for the tens of thousands of nurses sitting on the sidelines because they were educated outside the country.
“Plug the hole in the boat,” Fraser said.
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