Province to increase funding for Shriners Hospital

The Quebec government will increase its funding to Shriners Hospital for Children by $13.7 million per year.

The hospital reached an agreement with the Quebec government to outline how much money the province will contribute to its budget for the next five years. The added $13.7 million brings the Quebec government’s contribution to $23.9 million each year until 2023, an increase of about 73 per cent from what the province gave last year. The infusion of money will go to “additional procedures that will be performed on children who need those procedures,” said Gaétan Barrette, minister of Health and Social Services.

Barrette and Quebec cabinet minister Kathleen Weil announced the funding boost Tuesday morning at the hospital, joined by members of the fraternity Shriners International and children who credit their mobility to the care they received at the hospital.

Shriners Hospital for Children provides specialized orthopedic treatments for disorders that affect the skeleton and muscles, such as brittle bone disease and scoliosis. More than 1,100 children received surgeries at the hospital in 2017.

The hospital is publicly funded and privately run. The philanthropic organization Shriners Hospitals for Children provides the majority of the institution’s funding, said Emmanuelle Rondeau, who works in communications at the hospital. The Quebec government funds clinical services and care, such as the cost of surgeries, the in-patient unit and rehabilitation for Quebec children, Rondeau said. It does not cover other elements of the hospital’s budget such as research, teaching, facilities and equipment.

The Quebec government contributed $7.9 million to the hospital’s overall budget of $31 million in 2017.

“There are things that cannot be done any other way than through philanthropy,” Barrette said. “When you have an organization like the Shriners who decide to invest money for care directly and through research, this is real added value that makes a difference in the lives of children and in the lives of professionals.”

The hospital has experienced increased demand since moving to its new location in 2015.

“The previous agreement had been signed in 1973. It was indexed every year but not for the number of patients, and what’s happened is that the number of patients has been increasing, especially our Quebec patients and especially since we’ve moved to the new site, we had this incredible rise in the number of referrals and patients,” said Rondeau.