BC’s health minister denies services in Kamloops are under-funded
Posted March 24, 2017 7:20 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
KAMLOOPS (NEWS 1130) – After receiving a critical letter from a woman who suddenly lost her husband earlier this month, BC’s health minister denies services in his own Kamloops riding are being under-funded.
Terry Lake says people — who choose to live there — understand they won’t have access to ‘highly specialized’ care.
“You can’t have highly specialized services in every city –from a recruitment point of view, from a quality point of view, because quality very much depends on volume and so, to have a cancer centre in Kelowna, for instance, and to think we could have another cancer centre in Kamloops, is not realistic.”
“British Columbians understand that where they live is a choice that people made,” adds Lake.
He says it’s not ‘reasonable’ to suggest Kamloops deserves the same level of resources as other major centres like Kelowna.
“Our responsibility is to ensure that people have access to the highest levels of care when they need that higher level of care. You have to have specialized care in areas where you’ve got density, where you’ve got volume to ensure the high quality that’s necessary.”
Lake’s also suggesting the death of Doctor Rajinder Joneja on March 12th was not unusual.
He says a review is underway, but he’s been told appropriate procedures were followed.
The retired psychiatrist was rushed to the ER at Royal Inland Hospital with symptoms of a heart attack.
His wife insists he didn’t get the care he deserved.
