Saskatchewan Health Care:
Confirmation Of The Most Mismanaged System In Canada

Nipawin - October 14, 2000 - by:mario deSantis
   

mismanagement

Our health care providers have been saying all along that the problems in health care is
underfunding. And I have been saying all along that one major problem in health care is
mismanagement. We have the health districts and the Saskatchewan government breaking
the law, and as a consequence our health care system resembles a gambling casino(1).

 

 

Neil
Gardner

Today I visited the web site of the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) and
I find that Neil Gardner(2) is a board member of the institute and that he has led the
working group for Health Informatics/Telematics that provided recommendations on
health information standards for client-centred health records. No wonder that the
information technology implementations in health care have been disastrous all across
Canada and that hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent in obsolete technologies.

 

 

Technology
flop

We recall that Neil Gardner(3) along with Brian Rourke(4) and others have been
responsible for the biggest and secretive Information Technology flop ever undertaken
in Saskatchewan: the Saskatchewan Health Information Network (SHIN)(5).

 

 

four neurosurgeons have resigned

Today we have the news that two of Saskatoon's four neurosurgeons have resigned and
that the other two will likely quit soon(6). We also understand that by the end of the year
Saskatoon may lose as many as five anesthetists(7).

 

 

defective
health care system

Martin Zelder, director of health policy research at the Fraser Institute, has recognized
the gross mismanagement in health care and has specifically targeted Saskatchewan as
an example of a defective health care system by stating
"Look at Saskatchewan... that province had the second-highest government health spending per person in 1999 and the longest total waiting time of all the provinces(8)."

 

 

Pat Atkinson

This evening (October 12) I have been watching the local CTV News and when Minister
of Health Pat Atkinson was questioned about the departure of our medical specialists.
from Saskatoon and about the fact that Saskatchewan has the longest waiting time of
any other province, she discounted these concerns and replied that the departures of
the medical specialists is due to 'personality conflicts' which are not conducive to a
'positive environment' and that the waiting times reported by the Fraser Institute are
erroneous.

 

 

deadly
wrong

Pat Atkinson is deadly wrong, and I find absurd to have a government which deliberately
skews information(9), which systemically deceives people(10), and which continues to
place good psychology above the interest of serving the people
   
------------References/Endnotes:
   
  List of articles by Mario deSantis http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/authors/desantisNG.html
   

1.
-

Pat Atkinson: raising the finger and turning healthcare to a gambling casino, by Mario deSantis, February 3, 2000

 

 

2.
-
-

Neil Gardner is Executive Director, Corporate Information and Technology Branch, at Saskatchewan Health, Government of Saskatchewan http://www.cihi.ca/weare/bios.htm#Neil Gardner

 

 

3.
-

Associate Minister of Health Judy Junor: defending the SHIN flop at the Legislature, by Mario deSantis, April 13, 2000

 

 

4.
-

Brian Rourke wants more healthcare money: 40% of public expenditures are not enough, by Mario deSantis, November 14, 1999

 

 

5.
-

The problem with health care: 'Health-care Gorbachev' and the Tin Pot dictators, by Mario deSantis, June 16, 2000

 

 

6.
-

Neurosurgery nightmare: Resignations put program on verge of collapse, by Jason Warick, The StarPhoenix, October 12, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

 

 

7.
-

Saskatoon braces to lose anesthetists, CBC Saskatchewan, http://sask.cbc.ca Web Posted | Oct 12 2000 12:35 PM EDT

 

 

8.
-

Fraser Institute says hospital waiting times longer, Canada News Wire, Vancouver, October 12, 2000 http://www.newswire.ca/releases/October2000/12/c2075.html

 

 

9.
-

Premier Romanow's Government: Skewing Information and Keeping From Learning, by Mario deSantis, July 18, 2000

 

 

10.
-

Premier Roy Romanow and Minister of Finance Eric Cline: Cheating the Electorate by Fragmenting Government's Accountability, by Mario deSantis, October 12, 2000