Rick Thorpe, the Okanagan's somewhat lighter version of Kamloops North Thompson Liberal MLA Kevin Kruger, is calling for a Health Centre on the Westside. Residents of the Westside have to travel to Penticton and or Kelowna for emergency care since the Summerland hospital was closed by the BC Liberals in 2003.
Currently there are no services on the westside. Thrope picked up on the NDP's promise to build 12 health centres around BC along with day surgery facilities. Thorpe says it does not make sense to centralize everything. The question here is why did Thorpe say nothing along with his equally quiet and unreachable cabinet colleague, Sindi Hawkins when the Liberals closed or ramped down services in 84 healthcare facilities in BC.
The Okanagan and Southern Interior has seen the loss of several hundred long-term care beds and an equal number of acute care beds since the Liberals were first elected in 2001.
If Thorpe is sincere about his Health Centre idea, then he better start talking to the CEO of the Interior Health Authority, apparently these folks don't listen to election promises (note the cut in long-term care beds not the 5,000 promised) and they missed his call for a health centre.
The Health Centre should be run by the Health Authority or a non-profit society and not a private business that needs to earn a profit. Good for Thorpe in trying to fix the problem, now lets not do a half way job or private one. The first step in addressing a problem is admitting you have one. Thorpe's call for a health centre is an admission of the BC Liberal's failure in health care.
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