Bill would pave way for doing some surgeries in N.B. outside hospitals
CBC
The Higgs government has introduced legislation that would allow Medicare to pay for more simple surgeries outside hospitals.
The bill would create a legal framework for a two-year pilot project in Bathurst that will move cataract surgeries to a local clinic, freeing up two days of surgical time per week for other procedures at the Chaleur Regional Hospital.
The bill Health Minister Bruce Fitch introduced Wednesday "is specifically to allow that one, and my expectation is we'll continue to widen that list as time goes on to allow these surgeries to occur."
Fitch visited the Bathurst clinic when the pilot project was announced last month.
"It was amazing to see the amount of people they can put through" thanks to new technology and equipment, he said.
The pilot project, which is also designed to shorten wait times for cataract surgeries, is to run for 24 months, but Fitch said the government could expand the model to other places around the province before that, assuming everything works as expected.
But the health minister found himself tongue-tied when asked by reporters what other surgeries might get the same treatment.
"There's some procedures — actually, I'm smiling a bit because they're sensitive issues," Fitch said.
When reporters mentioned vasectomies and colonoscopies, Fitch confirmed those were two possibilities, saying it made him "a little squeamish" to talk about "other surgeries in that part of the body, around that area."
Fitch said this would not change the province's long-standing refusal to fund surgical abortions in clinics.
He said the province checked with the regional health authorities and there's no waiting list for abortions.
"They came back to us saying there's not a wait list and you can obtain the procedure in a very expedient way."
Opposition Leader Rob McKee, the Liberal health critic, said for abortions, access is the issue, not wait times, and the new legislation should apply.
"Having quick access close to where you live is very important."
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
Nancy Addison is still waiting for a house to come home to, one year after a wildfire raged through Jasper, Alta.
There's an app for that — even to help monitor people on bail in Ontario.
A fire at a waste facility in Wellington, P.E.I., on Saturday could have been much worse than it turned out to be.
It's been well documented by now that Canadians are drinking less than they used to, but no other province has seen a greater reduction than Alberta.
Canada's premiers are kicking off a three-day summit in Ontario's cottage country at a time of heightened anxiety over tariffs and trade with Canada's closest trading partner, the United States.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is dismissing the question of whether U.S. free trade with Canada is dead, calling the notion "silly" and saying a substantial amount of Canadian goods enter the U.S. tariff-free under the current North American free trade deal.
Howard Mah and Lori Arnason had never seen a wild grizzly until Saturday.
Police in New York state say they have found a nine-year-old Canadian girl who was reported missing in northeastern New York dead.
A 14-year-old has been arrested in the fatal stabbing of a woman in a North York parking lot last Thursday, Toronto police say.
It's been a big week for Tyrelle Chadwick.
Joanne Williams estimates she's taught 2,000 people how to make bentwood boxes.
Paula Callejas, a Montreal native, was trying to expand her swimsuit business in Florida after taking time off to take care of her ailing father in Canada before his death.
Across Alberta, more people are buying new vehicles even as prices have been shooting up.