Canadians have free health care but it drives them crazy when it’s confirmed that some people push in ahead of them as they wait for medical services. Things got so bad that the western province of Alberta had an inquiry to determine to what extent that was going on.
Some people are in fact jumping the queue the inquiry found though not politicians or senior executives, as was suspected. Among those who did, the inquiry named members of the Calgary Flames hockey team who were able to avoid long line-ups to get flu shots at a private clinic during the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic.
Some patients who paid $10,000 for a membership at the Helios Wellness Centre were given preferential treatment at a colon cancer screening centre.
The inquiry recommended several change to curb queue-jumping including expanded protection for whistleblowers, a reduction in overall waiting times, standardizing referral procedures and booking systems and lots more.
We’ll see what gets adopted and whether things change.
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