OHA WELCOMES FUNDING TO REDUCE WAIT TIMES
Ontario Hospital Association
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Friday, April 28, 2006
OHA WELCOMES FUNDING TO REDUCE WAIT TIMES
TORONTO – The Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) welcomed today’s announcement by Ontario’s Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, The Honourable George Smitherman, that an additional 154,000 medical procedures will be funded this fiscal year through the Government of Ontario’s Wait Times Strategy.
“Today’s announcement means that Ontarians will have better access to these life-saving and life-enhancing procedures,” said OHA President and CEO Hilary Short. “This is great news for patients across Ontario.”
According to the details of today's announcement, the Government of Ontario will spend $222.5 million in 2006-07 to reduce wait times for five key medical procedures: cardiac, cancer, cataract and hip and knee replacement surgeries and MRI/CT examinations. Over the past year, Ontario’s hospitals and the OHA have worked closely with the government to reduce wait times and to implement a system that allows the general public to view wait times information on a hospital-specific basis.
“This funding builds on the significant progress that has been made over the last two years in measuring and reducing wait times,” said Short. “We look forward to working with Minister Smitherman and Dr. Alan Hudson’s Wait Times Strategy Team to further reduce wait times for these five procedures, and for others offered by Ontario’s hospitals.”
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