Sherman would put new federal health dollars to good use
Edmonton – Official Opposition Leader Raj Sherman says the PC government’s refusal to say whether or not billions of dollars in federal health transfers will be used on health care shows an appalling lack of common sense.
Changes to the program that transfers federal money back to the provinces for health care could provide up to $900 million a year in extra funding for Alberta.
Sherman says that if he were Premier, he’d use the money to, first and foremost, unclog Alberta’s emergency rooms and hospitals.
“We need to invest in caring for our seniors,” Sherman says. “We should use that money to provide home care and public long-term care for the hundreds of seniors still waiting for spaces – seniors who are instead stuck in much more expensive acute care beds in hospitals, which prevents the admission of patients in the ER, which in turn prevents our ambulances from going out on 911 calls. These new federal dollars could ensure that every Alberta senior spends his or her golden years in comfort and dignity, and we’d slash wait times in the ER to boot.”
Sherman would also invest in training a new generation of front-line health care workers: nurses, doctors, paramedics, technicians, support staff and allied health professionals.
“We have the best facilities and the best health care professionals in the world,” Sherman says. “But the PCs lacked the foresight to train enough doctors and nurses to keep up with rising demand. These federal dollars could pay for plenty of spaces for medical students in our post-secondary institutions.”
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