Commentary
Former B.C. deputy minister of health Lawrie McFarlane’s July 24 commentary on the “Cambie Surgery Centre ruling” (a descriptive that ignores two cancer patients and three children who were co-plaintiffs) contained some valid commentary.
The crisis we now face in our health system is there for all to see and observe. Notably, McFarlane offers no solutions.
For those whose memory is short, the government of his era—he was a deputy minister in the early to mid-1990s—theorized too many doctors and nurses were treating too many patients and that was responsible for rising health costs.
Their solutions were simple. Close beds, cut back medical schools (10 to 30 percent nationally) and close many nursing schools….