Communist Web Thursday 10th February 2000 9.30pm gmt Klein Tories Push Corporate Hospitals EDMONTON - In the middle of February the Conservative government of Alberta will introduce a Bill which, if passed, would profoundly weaken public health care throughout Canada. The Klein regime wants to throw open the doors to the corporate provision of hospital care, by allowing private for-profit hospitals, such as the HRG corporation in Calgary, to undertake complex surgeries and other procedures, and be paid from the public purse. The media-smart Premier, a former television personality, says that the new arrangements will let cash-strapped Regional Health Authorities reduce waiting times by contracting out certain services (hip replacement operations are often mentioned) that the public sector is not effectively providing. The costs of the "bricks and mortar" for new facilities would supposedly be borne by the for-profit hospital corporations waiting in the wings. Klein argues that the whole thing is a question of allowing more choices to shorten... http://www.billkath.demon.co.uk/cw/cw.html
