allows more for-profit clinics to provide cataract and other surgeries, as well as diagnostic tests including CT scans and MRIs, all paid for by OHIP.
Under the legislation, about 14,000 more Ontarians will get cataract surgeries this year instead of waiting after delays for procedures grew longer during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Progressive Conservative MPP Robin Martin, parliamentary secretary to Health Minister Sylvia Jones.The government will begin taking applications for clinics this summer, and will decide which ones to licence depending on local needs.
“We have already seen for-profit surgical clinics and nursing agencies pay double the wages offered in public hospitals,” said ONA president Erin Ariss, an emergency room nurse from Waterloo Region.New Democratic Party Leader Marit Stiles predicted the legislation would be the start of a slippery slope to “a two-tier system where a select few will jump to the front of the line and everyone else is going to have to wait longer.