Province picks up tab for man’s medical bill

WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government has paid a US$118,00 medical bill for a man’s emergency treatment in the U.S.

Robin Milne, who is 60, cried tears of joy after coming out of a meeting with Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen, who informed him that the entire bill has been taken care of.

He said Thursday this is a tremendous weight off of him.

Milne — who lives a few kilometres from the Canada-U.S. border — had a heart attack in October 2016 and went to the closest hospital emergency room, which is in Minnesota.

Manitoba has an emergency care deal with Minnesota, but the U.S. doctor sent Milne to another hospital in North Dakota, which the province doesn’t have a deal with, to get a heart stent.

Milne said the decision to transfer him to the North Dakota hospital came after he waited 90 minutes to be transferred to a Winnipeg hospital for the procedure.

On Feb. 1, the Manitoba government said it didn’t have the authority to make such payments.

Goertzen said he drove to the U.S. and secured an agreement clearing Milne’s bill.

174 last week.

The city says the number of overdose calls Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services received between Feb. 26 to March 5 was the highest so far this year, and much higher than historical data.

The majority of the calls were in the Downtown Eastside, but the number of cases outside the downtown area also increased.

Vancouver police also reported 14 suspected overdose deaths across the city last week, six more than the previous week.

Mayor Gregor Robertson says drug overdose deaths due to the ongoing fentanyl crisis continue to have a devastating impact throughout Vancouver.

A record 922 people died from overdoses last year in B.C., which has declared a public health emergency. The city says nearly 25 per cent of those deaths were in Vancouver.