On Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced an increase in funding to private clinics 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. Looks to do.
Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones unveiled their three-step plan to provide more procedures in private clinics.
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They both noted that the procedures and tests would continue to be funded by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP), but critics remain concerned about the impact on hospital staff and possible add-on fees at private clinics.
Phase 1 of the plan was up to $8.5 million in annual funding for community surgical and diagnostic centers in Windsor, Kitchener-Waterloo and Ottawa to provide cataract surgery.
Locally, MPP Mike Harris says the TLC Laser Eye Center in Waterloo has agreed to a deal with the province as part of a move that is expected to lead to 14,000 more OHIP-insured cataract surgeries per year.
That represents only 25 percent of the province-wide backlog for cataract surgery, according to a Harris release.
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The province is providing $18 million to existing centers for MRI and CT scans, cataract surgery, other eye surgery, some gynecological surgery and plastic surgery.
Down the road, the Ford government will expand the scope of private surgical and diagnostic centers, including more colonoscopy and endoscopy procedures, and expand surgeries at clinics for hip and knee replacements in 2024.
With files from The Canadian Press
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