TORONTO – Ontario Liberals are demanding that Doug Ford takes urgent action today to resolve the staffing crisis in hospitals. With 8,000 to 10,000 surgeries being postponed every week, Doug Ford’s refusal to act has caused an emergency in Ontario.
“I have heard from healthcare heroes telling me stories from the frontlines about how shocking the current situation is given how long Ontario had to prepare,” stated Ontario Liberal Leader, Steven Del Duca. “Because of Doug Ford’s failure to take any preventative action before the fifth wave became a tsunami, and nurses being driven out of the profession by his anti-nurse government, we are facing an unprecedented staffing shortage that requires immediate action.”
Ontario Liberals are demanding that the following emergency measures be implemented, and say they can’t wait until next week:
- Urgently request the assistance of the Canadian military today to support our increasingly overwhelmed hospitals and long-term care homes.
- Recall the legislature to repeal the wage-capping Bill 124 so we can prevent nurses from leaving their profession.
- Expedite the process to get our internationally educated nurses credentialed in Ontario.
- Invite on a voluntary basis registered health professionals beyond nursing and medicine to participate in vaccinations to free up doctors and nurses who are needed in our hospitals. Dentists and chiropodists, for example, can give injections, are regulated, and want to help.
- On an emergency basis, allow staff to be seconded to alternate hospital sites with minimal administrative barriers.
“Doug Ford’s recklessly incompetent response to the fifth wave has caused a crisis in our hospitals,” added Del Duca. “This can’t wait until next week or the week after – Doug Ford needs to get back to work and start trying to mitigate the disaster he caused right now.”
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