MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 1, 2006

Council of Canadians calls upon BC Health Minister to uphold the law

The Council of Canadians is demanding that British Columbia’s Health Minister, George Abbott, take action to prevent False Creek Surgery Clinic/Urgent Care Centre from opening in Vancouver today. The private clinic is to offer for-profit emergency services for the first time in Canada – a move that clearly violates the Canada Health Act (CHA).

The clinic plans to charge a $199 examination fee and extra fees for various services provided in the emergency room.  “These services are all considered ‘medically necessary’ by the Canada Health Act", says Guy Caron, health care campaigner for the Council of Canadians. “User fees are clearly forbidden”

The clinic also acknowledged that the 24 emergency doctors it hired would continue to work in the public system while collecting private fees for the services offered at the Urgent Care Centre. This is a direct violation of the “extra billing” provision of the CHA according to Caron.

The government of British Columbia is currently consulting the public on the future of its health care system through the Premier’s Conversation on Health initiative. “The BC government claims to be interested in what the public has to say about our health care system, but allowing this clinic to open jeopardizes the legitimacy of the consultation,” says Carleen Pickard, the Council of Canadians’ regional organizer for British Columbia and the Yukon.

“Canadians outside BC should be concerned too,”says Pickard. “If one province allows a clinic of this nature to violate the Canada Health Act, it has an impact on Canadians everywhere.”

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For more information, contact:
Dylan Penner, Media Officer, Council of Canadians: (613) 233-4487, ext. 249; 1-800-387-7177, ext. 249; .