Ontario Liberals say Bill 7 could lead to patients in northern Ontario hospitals being sent to long-term care homes up to 300 kilometres away.
They released the information on Thursday, which they say came from a reliable anonymous source.
For patients in southern Ontario no longer needing acute care, the transfer could be as far as 100 kilometres away. In the bigger cities, the distance could be up to 30 kilometres.
Health Critic Dr. Adil Shamji says the transfer possibilities for northern patients are concerning.
He says there is already a health disparity in the north.
“We should be working on fixing these problems, and instead, what we are doing is we’re tacitly saying it’s okay. We’re perpetuating these problems. We’re endorsing these problems, and our patients are the ones who are suffering in the process, and their families as well,” says Dr. Shamji.
The Liberals are also calling for public meetings on the bill, even if it means holding them over the weekend.
“If they were serious about it and wanted to do the right humane thing, give families answers, let people come and talk about it, and then they’ll realize that they need to withdraw,” says Interim leader John Fraser.
Fraser says the opposition would have been ready to sit all through the weekend.
The government voted Thursday to fast-track the bill to third and final reading with no hearings or committee review.
That could put it into law as early as next week.
The bill is to allow for hospital patients to be moved to long-term care homes to help free up beds.
