Secrecy, Privatization & the Dilution of Public Accountability: the Chemotherapy Scandal

Martin Regg Cohn, Queen's Park columnist for the Toronto Star, expressed his outrage at some length today at the College of Pharmacists. Apparently, they did not answer media questions about the diluted chemotherapy drug scandal quickly enough.

But he says nothing of the response from the private corporation that actually mixed the chemotherapy drugs That company has -- according to the Star's sister paper, the Spectator -- repeatedly refused interview requests and refers questions to the Ministry of Health and LTC. Early on, it reportedly threatened legal action if its name was mentioned and suggested the problem lay elsewhere. As one CEO at an affected hospital said yesterday “They have not been forthcoming, for whatever reason, with a lot of information.”

This illustrates a key difference between public bodies and private corporations -- the former are expected by the public and the media to be open, the latter, not at all.

So when you privatize public services, expect the latter. They are, after all, private corporations, run for private interests -- even when funded by public money.

More Privatization Issues...

The Ontario College of Pharmacists now says the private company is not even licensed as an accredited pharmacy.

The privatization of the mixing of chemotherapy drugs is relatively new -- just like the privatization of many other aspects of health care that are being encouraged by the current government (e.g. private surgical clinics, P3 hospitals, and the replacement of public hospital and public long-term care services by private home care and private retirement homes). Even those who support such privatization expect the government to have figured out basic oversight and public accountability before charging ahead with privatization.

But apparently not.

The number of Ontario government scandals driven in large part by privatization just keeps growing and growing: the Brampton P3 hospital, e-Health, the gas plant, Ornge – it’s hard to think of one that is not.

But the lessons learned by the government? Not much -- just vein hopes to figure out how to privatize better next time. So expect more problems.

Update 12/04/13: Sure enough, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has promised better oversight of privatized companies providing chemotherapy mixtures, suggesting that Health Canada and the College of Pharmacists are working on this. But she won't tell hospitals to bring the work back in house.

As, with past privatization fiascos, the Liberals are vowing to do privatization better -- next time.

Photo: Slow Poison, Slow Cure by Unhindered by Talent

Comments

More spending on new hospitals and new beds? Nope

Hospital funding: There is something off about the provincial government's Budget claims on hospital capital funding (funding to build and renovate hospital beds and facilities). For what it is worth (which is not that much, given the long time frame the government cites), the province claims it will increase hospital capital spending over the next 10 years from $11 billion to $20 billion – or on average to about $2 billion per year. But, this is just a notional increase from the previous announcement of future hospital capital spending. Moreover, even if we did take this as a serious promise and not just a wisp of smoke, the government's own reports shows they have actually funded hospital infrastructure about $3 billion a year over the 2011/12-2015/16 period. So this “increase” is really a decrease from past actual spending. Even last year's (2016-17) hospital capital funding increase was reported in this Budget at $2.3 billion - i.e. about 15% more th

Ford government fails to respond to 72% increase in COVID inpatient days, deepening the capacity crisis

COVID infections continue to drive up hospital costs and inpatient hospitalizations in Ontario. For the most recent fiscal year (April 1, 2022- March 31, 2023) hospital stays related to COVID cost $1.221 billion, according to new CIHI data. This is about 4% of total hospital spending, creating a very significant new cost pressure beyond the usual pressures of population growth, aging, inflation, and rising utilization. Costs for COVID related hospitalizations increased 22.2% in Ontario in 2022/23 from the previous fiscal year, rising from $999 million to $1.221 billion. That rise is particularly notable as the OMICRON spike of late 2021 and early 2022 had passed by the the 2022/23 fiscal year. The $222 million increase in COVID hospitalization costs came in the same year as the Ford government cut special COVID funding and, in fact, cut total hospital funding by $156 million. In total, there were 60,653 COVID hospitalizations in Ontario in 2022/3, up from 47,543 in 2021/2.

Paramedic Services in Canada: Structure, Privatization, Unionization and other issues

Governance and Funding : While police and fire services are usually municipal services, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are typically controlled by provincial governments. In Ontario, regional municipal governments have responsibility for delivering and funding EMS. But even in Ontario the province plays a key role, strictly regulating EMS, providing funding for 50% of the approved land ambulance costs, and paying 100% of the approved costs for air ambulance, dispatch, base hospitals, First Nation EMS, and for territories without municipal government. Delivery : Like police and fire services, EMS is predominantly a publicly provided service in Canada. But businesses have now made some significant in-roads into EMS, primarily Medavie, a private corporation based in the Maritimes that describes itself as not-for-profit. Medavie goes back over 70 years, with its roots in health insurance. It still operates Medavie Blue Cross with 1,900 employees. It now a

Defend Public Healthcare

Search This Blog