LIBERAL SOLUTIONS LACKING, SAYS NDP MLA

While COVID-19 has rightfully been the focus of our health-care system for the past 15 months, the problems in our hospitals won’t magically disappear once the pandemic is over.

Health care was already under significant strain well before the first known case of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia. For eight years, the Liberal government has ignored the fact that emergency rooms are stretched to the limit.

In 2014, 7.6 per cent of ER patients admitted to a Cape Breton hospital went home without seeing a physician. By 2020, that figure jumped to 13.5 per cent.

The percentage of patients who left the ER without seeing a physician in Cape Breton continues to be well above the provincial average.

You would think that such horrible statistics would push the Liberals to take action. Instead, they have made it even harder for Cape Bretoners by closing ERS and failing to address the lack of access to family doctors.

This is especially troubling when you consider that the number of patients at the ER without a family doctor has increased over 200 per cent in Cape Breton from since 2014.

Cape Bretoners shouldn’t have to suffer through another term of health-care mismanagement by the Liberals. We deserve a government that sees the health of Cape Bretoners as a top priority.

For the past eight years, the Liberals have made it clear that they do not have the solutions that our community desperately needs.

Kendra Coombes

New Waterford (NDP MLA, Cape Breton Centre)