Ontario’s New Democrats are out with a call for more money for northern hospitals.
Leader Andrea Horwath is asking the Liberals to explain a cash reduction for the Lake of the Woods District Hospital in Kenora by $700,000 in the past month.
Horwath notes the Kenora facility was projecting a balanced budget, but stresses they are now facing a huge deficit.
She adds patients are paying the price as a result.
Horwath says the province continues to cut funding for area health care facilities, stressing every hospital in Ontario needs more investment, not less.
In the Legislature, the Health Minister didn’t give an explanation for the clawback, but did say they are working with the Local Health Integration Network to study the needs of each individual community.
Helena Jaczek noted that the government did increase overall hospital funding last year by $500-million.
