Merriman MIA while health system caves
SASKATOON - Today, Official Opposition Leader Carla Beck and Health Critic Vicki Mowat stood outside the Saskatoon cabinet office to call on the province to scrap their proposed private surgery plan and call on Health Minister Paul Merriman to address the suite of issues jeopardizing the health of Saskatchewan people.
“Saskatchewan’s health system is in a short-staffing crisis. If Scott Moe would listen to the experts or even his head of surgery, he’d know that creating a private surgical clinic relying on the already scarce workforce simply won’t work,” said Beck. “Scott Moe already had to send Saskatchewan patients out of province in the height of the pandemic for care. What’s remarkable is he’s now actually planning to do the same with this latest half-baked plan. We don’t need to rely on other province’s health systems to care for our own, we need to fix our public health system here at home.”
The head of Saskatchewan’s surgery department Dr. Ivar Mendez has criticized the proposed surgery plan saying the province needs to bolster the public system rather than expand private options. The Sask. NDP is calling on the province to expand current operating and diagnostic hours and incentivize and fund more full-time scarce positions including diagnostics, anesthesiologists and OR nurses to help manage the surgical backlog.
“We haven’t seen Paul Merriman address the public or media in months. All while new mothers face a terrifying epidural shortage, Monkeypox emerges, hospitals across the province are being shuttered and our hospitals here in Saskatoon are again bursting at the seams,” said Mowat. “We all love a great Saskatchewan summer, but the minister has a job to do. Now is not the time to be radio silent.”
Merriman has not given a public press conference since May. Meanwhile:
-30-
Poor working conditions, favouritism, $300K travel nurse pay at issue
REGINA - Today, the Official Opposition released a letter signed by 49 emergency room nurses in Saskatoon. The letter slams the Sask. Party government for failing to support Saskatchewan nurses and curb the province’s reliance on expensive out-of-province travel nurses.
REGINA - Today, Official Opposition Critic for First Nations and Métis Relations Betty Nippi-Albright hosted a Day of Action with Indigenous leaders from Nekaneet First Nation, Yellow Quill First Nation, Waterhen Lake First Nation, Onion Lake Cree Nation, Carry The Kettle First Nation, Key First Nation and the residential school support team from Yorkton Tribal Council. Together, they continue to draw attention to the Sask. Party government’s disregard for the Duty to Consult process.
MOOSE JAW - Today, the Official Opposition stood with Taylor Enns, president of the Moose Jaw Firefighters Association, and Brayden Dutchak, the son of a cancer survivor. Together, they called on the Sask. Party government to reopen Saskatchewan’s only hyperbaric chamber.
Records show former Sask. Party Finance Minister lobbied for Calgary surgery scheme on behalf of a major Sask. Party donor
REGINA - Today, the Official Opposition grilled the Premier and his Minister of Health after the Minister misled the public, claiming that he had not been lobbied by a former Sask. Party MLA when Saskatchewan's official lobbyist logs show the exact opposite.