British Columbia

The Hospital Employees Union last
week called on Health Minister John Jansen
to provide $20 million immediately in emer-
gency funding to head off a budget crisis
which has already seen the province’s lar-
gest hospital, Vancouver General, announce
60 bed closures for Jan. 1, 1991.

The 28,000-member HEU has sought a
meeting with Jansen to make the request for
the $20-million allocation which, the union
said, is the minimum required to allow hos-
pitals to operate at their current levels. The
money represents approximately one per
cent of hospital oper-
ating expenditures for |
the province. |

“This funding cri- |
sis exists right |
throughout the pro- |
vince and it means
that many commun-
ities are facing reduc-
tions in their health
care,” HEU  secre-
tary-business man- ALLEVATO
ager Carmela Allevato told a news confer-
ence Dec. 10. “We need a $20 million sup-
plement at minimum.”

Allevato said the union calculated the
need after surveying hospitals in B.C. which
have begun to announce cuts in staff and
service standards following a new round of
cuts in budgets approved by the ministry this
fall.

In the past, Allevato said, the health min-
istry has provided additional funding on a

operating deficits.

“But this year, they’ve said no,” she said.

She charged that the ministry’s stand was
“political posturing,” intended to create the
impression that health costs are of out of
control in order to force public acceptance
of service cuts.

“Then at election time, they’ll pull a rab-
bit out of the hat and provide some funding,”
she said. “But in the meantime, services will
have been cut and people and communities
will have been hurt.”

Following the completion of the budget
approval process, hospitals last month
began announcing service cuts — and al-
ready the list has become staggering.

Worst so far is the closure of 60 beds in
Vancouver General Hospital which had al-
ready imposed a hiring freeze and asked for
curbs on the use of supplies before the latest
figures revealed a $5 million deficit in a
$275 million operating budget. According to
HEU researchers, the bed closures will af-
fect gynecology, general surgery, nephrol-
ogy, urology, plastic surgery, ophthalmol-
ogy and family practice.

Housekeeping standards are also to be
reviewed “and what that tells us is that stand-
ards will be reduced,” said Allevato, noting

Emergency $20 million
fund needed to avert
hospital crisis: HEU

case by case basis to make up for hospital »

that a similar review at St. Paul’s Hospital in
Vancouver resulted in layoffs that made it
impossible for staff to keep the hospital
clean.

Ironically, at the same time as it is suffer-
ing a $5 million operating deficit, VGH has
been given $6 million to plan construction
in its new tower, indicating a “problem with
priorities,” the HEU leader said.

Elsewhere in the Lower Mainland, staff
cuts are also expected at University Hospital
which is facing a $800,000 deficit and
Mount St. Joseph’s which has already laid
off an important community co-ordinator
following announcement of a $500,000
deficit.

In northern B.C., budget deficits have
resulted in the closure of 16 beds at Bulkley
Valley District Hospital and the layoff of 14
HEU staff members at Prince George
Regional Hospital.

The funding crisis is particularly acute at
Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops which
closed 32 beds and eliminated 20 staff posi-
tions in October, and then announced that
further cuts would be necessary to meet a
$500,000 deficit.

Layoffs of HEU members as well as
members of the B.C. Nurses Union and the
Health Sciences Association are also pend-
ing in at least two hospitals in the Kootenays.

“This is just a sampling of what’s going
on in our hospitals,” Allevato told report-
ers." This crisis needs to be addressed now."

She said that the union would be ap-
proaching other organizations in the health
care field to press the ministry for emergen-
cy funding for hospitals.

Earlier this month, the B.C. Medical As-
sociation told the Royal Commission On
Health Care and Costs that hospital emer-
gency wards were chronically overcrowded
putting the lives of patients at risk, as a result
of the funding crisis.

Downtown Eastside Residents’ Association
9 East Hastings St. Vancouver, B.C. V6A 1M9
Phone: 682-0931 Fax: 669-5499

Season’s
Greetings
from

END THE
ARMS RACE

In the New Year

join Vancouver

10th anniversary

Walk for Peace,
Saturday, April 20, 1991

#303, 3680 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, B.C. VSY 2K9
Phone: 299-2707 -

Best Wishes for the New Year

... from 6,500 B.C. Health professionals,
proud to be part of the labour movement

Health Sciences Association

Jackie Henwood, President
Peter Cameron, Executive Director

Season’s Greetings
from
United Fishermen
and Allied Workers
Union, Local #15
(Nanaimo)

SS

Pacific Tribune, December 17, 1990 + 3