A Plan to Stay Open.
The province has released a strategy to deal with future public health emergencies.
Treasury Board President Prabmeet Sarkaria says it includes plans to recruit and retain more health care workers, making Ontario a producer of personal protective equipment and adding more hospital beds.
“Our plan to stay open is how the people will hold us accountable. It is how we will support our frontline health care heroes and is how we will give Ontarians of confidence and security of knowing that when a future pandemic emerges, Ontario will be prepared,” says Sarkaria.
A part of the plan is attracting more students to careers in health care and public health.
Minister of Colleges and Universities Jill Dunlop says a new grant program hopes to achieve that goal.
“The grant will provide financial support to post-secondary students who enroll in high priority programs such as health, human resources and other critical care positions and commit to work in underserved communities when they graduate,” says Dunlop.
The province is also looking to make it easier for foreign-trained health care workers to work in Ontario.
A temporary wage enhancement for personal support workers and direct support workers will be made permanent.
More spaces will open up at Ontario’s medical schools to train more physicians.
The province is also focusing on the food supply chain by requiring more regular reports and the creation of temporary locations to handle deliveries during an emergency.
The province will also prohibit the resale of government-issued PPE.
During the pandemic, rapid tests protests provided to students were being sold online.
