Hospital Privatization A `Disturbing Picture'

Health Minister George Smitherman and hospital CEO Robert Richards have denied many of the claims made in a report by the coalition, which says it examined thousands of documents it obtained after a four-year court battle for access. The documents include internal correspondence among the government, the hospital and the private consortium that built it. "What we found is a deeply disturbing picture that irrefutably shows that the costs of the hospital increased from $350 million ... to $650 million by the time the hospital was constructed," said Mehra. (With equipment, the total bill stands at $790 million.) Although the initial construction deadline was 2005, the hospital was not completed until July 2007 and opened last October, she added. http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/291911 [Of course, this Hospital is known for operating on the wrong body part. Thanks, Dr. Nick! - DrC] Smitherman took the rare step of appointing a supervisor to restore public confidence in Brampton Civic after the deaths of Harnek Sidhu, 52, of pancreatitis and Amarjit Narwal, 42, of a stroke, sparked a huge community protest in early December. Then, on Christmas Day, 72-year-old Amar Kaur Brar complained doctors cut open her right leg by mistake when she went to hospital for surgery on her fractured left leg. http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/290180

Note: http://www.thestar.com/... http://www.thestar.com/...