Zurich Citizens News, 1976-05-12, Page 8Page i3 -Citizens News, May 12/76
Jottings by Jock from Quer s Par
Jack Riddell
There is still hope that Clinton
Hospital ordered to close by the
Minister of Health might be given
a chance to remain in operation
pending a decision by an Appeal
Court Tribunal.
Hospitals in Clinton, Durham
and Chesley as well as Doctors
Hospital in Toronto, are appeal-
ing the order to close, charging
that the Province is exceeding
its legal authority.
Lawyers for Clinton and
Chesley hospitals accused the
Health Ministry of not allowing
their- clients a fair hearing.
"We're not satisfied with the
reasons for closure given us."
said the Lawyer Peter Fallis.
"Closure is a very serious matter,
especially in a small community
where the hospital is often one of
the biggest employers."
The appeal is expected to end
after the lawyer for the Attorney -
General's office submits his
rebuttal. Following this the three
judges hearing the appeal will
make a decision as to whether
the Ontario Government had the
legal authority to close the
hospitals.
The Acting Minister of Health
has warned that Ontario could
face a moderate polio epidemic
in five or ten years unless child-
ren and young adults continue
to have regular booster shots
against the disease. She said that
inoculation cannot be made
mandatory, but a regular anti -
polio program should be main-
tained by everyone until the age
of forty. First inoculation shots
are important, but it is equally
vital to maintain a program of
immunization. The Ministry of
Health has estimated that as
many as 25 percent of children
entering Grade 1 in this province
this year will not have received
proper immunization against
diseases such as polio, diphtheria
and rubella (German measles) -
probably because people have
tended to become complacent
about these diseases as there
has not been an epidemic for
some years.
Ontario's Energy Minister
has strongly condemned the
federal government's energy
strategy, but both opposition
parties in the Legislature have
been very critical of the provincial
government's alternative of a
"blended" price for oil. The
federal government wants
domestic oil prices to rise to the
world level over two or three
years, which would add 18 cents
a gallon to the price of gasoline
and about 78 cents to the price
of 1,000 cubic feet of natural
gas, which is set at 85% of the
price of the heating equivalent
in oil. The Provincial Energy
Minister called thefederal policy
"not only folly but basically
irresponsible." Liberal Leader
Stuart Smith criticized the federal
government which he said has
not had a coherent energy
policy for quite some time" and
the provincial government for
having even less policy. He
accepted the principle that
domestic oil prices should rise
toward world prices through
"a gradual movement once the
crunch is over in our economy."
We will be running out of oil
supplies in five years, and shall
have to go to world prices at
that time. The NDP said Ontario's
blended price proposal is out of
date because it involves old oil
at $8 a barrel - a price which
"bears no relationship at all to
the costs of production". They
called for the nationalization of
"a company like Imperial Oil",
Hospitai??
which operates across Canada
in all staees of the oil business.
The Attorney General has ,
resisted growing pressure from
Opposition Parties for a public
inquiry into the operation of
Ontario's private laboratories.
He considers that such an •
inquiry would not serve the
interests of the public in spite of
a recent newspaper report,
quoted in the Legislature, that
an OPP officer had advised a
physician investigator with the
College of Physicians and Sur-
geons to carry a gun during his
investigation of the private labs.
The Government has proposed
a Public Health Amendment
Act which would make it an
offence for the owner or operator
of a laboratory to "offer, give
or agree to give money or valu-
able consideration" to any person
as an inducement or reward
for a request for the performance
of a test in the laboratory. The
Act provides for regulations to
limit or prohibit the types of
tests which may be carried out
in a particular laboratory, and
provides that a laboratory licence
may not be renewed if it is
considered "not in the public
interest". Opposition parties
have called the bill superficial
and not worthy of support. It is
legislation aimed at cooling the
current controversy surrounding
the abuse of some private
medical laboratories, a bill which
Stephen Lewis labels as a symbol
of Tory "gratuity and irrel-
evance," Stuart Smith called it
a shameful piece of superficial
garbage put forward by a govern-
ment that has allowed for four
years the public purse to be
drained by unscrupulous methods
of billing • in the private lab
system.
Hugh O'Neil, Liberal MPP
(Quinte) • has called upon the
Ontario Health Ministry to
issue a directive ordering hos-
pitals not to lock their doors at
night. A hospital in Picton was
locked when a 3 year old boy,
later pronounced dead, was taken
there for treatment. The Minister
of Health said that many hospitals
are locked in the evening for
security reasons, and indicated
that hospital boards are respon-
sible for ensuring a- proper level
of care is maintained.
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