Following a report that BC Emergency Health Services (EHS) is millions over budget and reducing paramedic staffing, Courtenay-Comox’s MLA is condemning the move to cut staff.
Rural Health and Senior Affairs Critic for the BC Conservatives Brennan Day disagrees with the decision, saying more lives in rural communities are at risk.
Day said all communities will be hit by the shortages, but rural communities will feel it even more.
“Ambulance shortages mean residents in remote areas are waiting longer for care in life-threatening emergencies, and our paramedics are being pushed beyond their limits.”
Day added the emergency healthcare system is already stretched thin, with the opioid epidemic only adding more strain to it.
Day is asking for immediate funding to BC EHS to help restore staffing levels, better mental health and support programs for paramedics, and more long-term investments in rural healthcare infrastructure.
Action is needed now, and frontline healthcare workers have been sounding alarms for years, Day said.
“When you’re standing in the middle of a crisis, you don’t need empty promises, you need real support and immediate action.”
