Ministry needs to step in for a stronger health-care system

Re OHIP billings inform debate, Editorial, June 28

The persistent Star investigative initiatives during the last five years, concerning the right of Canadian citizens to know about Ontario physicians’ billings, has finally resulted in a muchawaited report on “Lifting the veil of secrecy on Ontario’s top-billing doctors.” Citizens can now see, with trepidation, that as many as 194 doctors had annual billings from $1.4 million to $6.9 million, which also includes overhead expenses such as rent, equipment and staff salaries.

Ontario taxpayers have a right to know why Ontario’s Ministry of Health (MOH), who as payers had full access to the above concerning information, appeared to be unable or unwilling to exercise their duty to ensure that all of these payments were fully in compliance with the MOH procedures. Where was the oversight that was necessary to rein in the outliers and thus reduce wastage of taxpayer funds?

It is equally disturbing to learn from published reports that generic drug manufacturers charge the Ontario Drug Benefit program eight times more for the same generic drugs that are sold in other countries such as New Zealand. The reported additional annual costs to Ontario for generic drugs are well over $1 billion. At the same time, the provincial PC government is drastically cutting funding for many muchneeded educational and social programs!

The Star Editorial asks a critical question: “Are we achieving the best health-care outcomes for the dollars we spend?” We can all agree that “Opening up the system to public scrutiny can only help to build a stronger health-care system for patients and doctors alike.”

It’s high time for paradigm change — for a better tomorrow.

M. Fernandes, Mississauga