Dear Premier Eby & Minister of Health, Adrian Dix,
I am a 67-year-old handicapped woman who is one of the fortunate few to have a family doctor.
I have voted for the NDP ever since I could vote, but can no longer support any party that is creating a dictatorship against our small private non-profit doctors. And failing to provide health care that could be provided if all doctors were given the same support. We have all read about clinics closing, labs closing, emergency departments closing and doctors running, not walking away from their jobs as practitioners.
Doctors are continuously attacked by health authorities, who threaten and report them to the College of Physicians & Surgeons for advocating for people like myself. We have three resident doctors between Port Hardy and Port McNeill. All three are under attack by Island Health. Dr. Ben Williams, VP of Island Health, had the nerve to come to Port Hardy to “help,” while he bashed one of our doctors. He made a statement in our local North Island Gazette, stating, “Better dangerous health care, than no health care.” Who does he think he is and how can Adrian Dix not only back these people, but condone their behaviour toward health-care workers? In my opinion, Island Health is walking on thin ice and are the dangerous ones, removing doctors from their work. We have two resident doctors who have taken care of well over 3,500 patients for 17 years. Two of those resident doctors have had their ER privileges removed, while the third isn’t allowed in the hospital. There has never been a problem with any of our doctors, yet they’ve been continuously slapped in the face, reported to the College with the outcome from the College as “we’ve seen no wrong-doing.”
When Ben Williams arrived to temporarily work in our ERs, the RCMP patrolled both hospital parking lots. Who paid for that? Who was under attack? No one! Was Ben Williams paid $1,000 a day for his 10-hour shift on top of his salary? Our doctors and hospital staff have been asking for security for years to no avail, but when Ben comes to town, there it is. The federal government gave the North Island $30 million for health care. Where is that money being spent? Island Health bought a bus, pays for cab rides home from the ERs after hours and hired a bunch of nurses and nurse assistants. No doctors have been hired.
Four doctors in Port McNeill have not been paid for their ER work since last October and they are not the only ones in B.C. not to be paid. Doctors are expected to be on call 72 hours a week, despite trying to keep up with their five-day clinic work week.
How do you justify, accusing doctors of “putting patients at risk” while you force them to work with no sleep? If they get sick, health authorities still expect them to work. I have had conversations and correspondence with a number of health-care workers who Island Health treated so badly, they quit being doctors, nurses, lab techs. They have no protection from the bullying, threats or harassment.
I’d like to say how disgusted I am at the health authorities’ treatment of our doctors and health-care workers.
Anita Harvie,
Port Hardy