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Province already facing shortage of doctors, nurses and health care practitioners, says medical society.
Fredericton (18 Jan. 2011) - The New Brunswick Medical Society (NBMS) says sweeping cuts announced by the province will hurt the provincial health care system.
The Conservative government ia slashing $42.9-million from existing spending levels.
The cuts include a suspension until April of all subsidies, bursaries and incentives for nurse practitioners, allied health professionals and physicians. Health officials say these cuts will save about $600,000.
Dr. Allison Kennedy, the medical society's president, says any new recruitment of doctors has been stopped in its tracks because of the suspension of signing bonuses. New Brunswick already has a critical shortage of doctors, he notes.
"I really don't think that we can afford even to take three months out of our recruitment efforts," Kennedy adds. "There's a lot of people in communities that are working hard to recruit physicians. We're short of nurses and other health care practitioners. We have to be full speed ahead with this."
Kennedy said it's a bad message to send to medical students considering a move to New Brunswick.
He was also critical of talk of de-insuring some elective medical procedures. Most of the procedures that could be cut have already been cut and not much else can be changed without compromising patient care, he argues.
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