Saskatchewan NDP Would Scrap Some Ambulance Fees They Say Hurt Rural Residents

REGINA — Saskatchewan's Opposition is promising to end ambulance fees for patients transferred between facilities.

 

NDP Leader Cam Broten also promises the party will scrap a per-kilometre rate for ambulances if it wins next month's provincial election.

 

Broten made the pledges during a campaign-style announcement in Regina on Saturday morning.

 

The party says Saskatchewan is the only province to charge for medically necessary ambulance transfers between health facilities and is one of only two provinces that doesn't cap ambulance fees.

 

It says the per-kilometre fee disproportionately affects rural residents who must be transferred to city hospitals for care.

 

Rural and Remote Health Minister Greg Ottenbreit, meanwhile, says the SaskParty stands proudly by its record on healthcare, which he says is a stark contrast to that of the previous NDP government.

 

Ottenbreit reassured residents of the Craik area, where a town hall-style meeting on rural health was held Saturday, about the future of the community's health facility. He said there were never plans to remove a full-time doctor and he turned the tables back on the NDP.

 

"You can't blame communities when they have that fear and they've seen, maybe, facilities under the previous government anyway, closing," Ottenbreit told CKRM radio.

 

The provincial election writ hasn't officially been dropped but the vote will be held April 4.

 

Broten says healthcare and government spending will be very important issues in the coming election.

 

The NDP estimates scrapping the ambulance fees will cost around $63 million over four years.

 

"This election is about priorities, it's about priorities. Promising excellent health care without a price tag for families is one of mine," Broten said.