By paNOW Staff

Private MRIs reignite debate about Sask’s public health care

Oct 17, 2014 | 7:13 PM

As the Saskatchewan government reveals an application is in for a private MRI clinic, Health Minister Dustin Duncan is looking at patient choice while Opposition Leader Cam Broten wants all residents to have equal access to health services.

The application is for a clinic that would offer its services at a cost to patients. Duncan said the application was put in three weeks ago, but he wouldn’t divulge which company made the application. 

The idea of patients paying for MRIs doesn’t sit well with the NDP opposition. Broten say the government is heading down the “wrong path” if it’s exploring a two-tiered system that allows those with enough money to get ahead of those waiting for care in the public system. 

 “The idea that a family or any individual who has the financial resources, the extra thousand dollars would be able to skip the line and get a surgery faster than someone who doesn’t have the means to do that simply isn’t right. And it’s not fair to people in Saskatchewan,” said Broten.

Duncan explained it’s more complicated than that.

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“The whole ‘one-tier, two-tier’, I think that is a fairly simplistic way to describe what already takes place in the healthcare system in Canada,” said Duncan.

The health minister says Saskatchewan already has some private diagnostics and surgery. He explained both Saskatchewan Workers Compensation Board and SGI currently send patients for diagnosis to a private clinic in Calgary, so those services could be performed here instead.  When a patient uses a health care service offered by a private deliverer under the current arrangement, the province pays for it. 

Offering more choice to patients is something Duncan is focused on. He didn’t say whether he’s for or against the idea of patients being able to pay to get MRIs from a private clinic, but he did say he’s supportive of having the conversation.

“I certainly welcome an opportunity to have an adult conversation about the ability for patients to have choice and for the continued use of the private sector in healthcare in Saskatchewan.”

He’s also thinking about wait times and the number of patients on wait lists for surgeries. He also says a rule could be put in place to keep such a clinic from poaching staff from the public sector.

Broten is suggesting the government put more resources into the public system to improve wait times. 

 “My desire for my child, or if it was my mom, or my grandma is the desire for a system that treats people fairly, but treats them fairly by delivering the best possible care and the highest level of care,” said Broten.

As for a timeline for this application, Duncan said it’s early. Neither caucus nor cabinet have discussed it yet.
 
It’s also too early for Duncan to know whether the idea would be part of a SaskParty platform, or whether it will come up in the coming session of the legislature, which begins Tuesday. 

This is the third such application since 2005. The first two were rejected.

-with files from CJME’s Lisa Schick, Jill Slater and Alex Docking

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