Members of the Ontario Health Coalition are calling out the Ford government over the current state of hospitals what they say are attempts to privatize.
Protests are taking place across the province Monday, including in Kitchener-Waterloo where demonstrators met at Waterloo Public Square at noon. They plan to march from there to the front of Grand River Hospital.
“We’d like to stop the province from moving ahead in this direction,” said Jim Stewart, Waterloo Region Health Coalition chair. “We’re really trying to draw attention to the fact that we’re marching steadily towards American style healthcare. We don’t want medical debt or medical bankruptcy to lift its head up here in the province of Ontario. It’s a very ill conceived policy.”
According to recent reports, the ICU at SickKids Hospital is at 120 per cent capacity and has been under immense pressure for weeks.
Pediatric hospitals across the province are in similar situations as they’ve seen a huge surge in children with respiratory illnesses.
A severe staffing crunch, especially in highly specialized units, such as intensive care, has compounded the problem.
CTV News Kitchener will have more on the protests tonight at six and this story will be updated.
