Editor, Globe and Mail
444 Front St. W.
Toronto, ON
M5V 2S9

Dear Editor:

Ontario Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty's article "On the Eves of Two Tier Health Care?" rightly and justifiably expresses concern about the Eves government's plan to establish private MRI and CT scan clinics in Ontario.

Unfortunately, McGuinty does not go far enough. His basic position is that private clinic scans are OK as long as public MRI and CT machines are running to full capacity, and all private services are covered by OHIP.

He's right that we should get the public machines running to full capacity. To do this we need trained staff. The problem is that it takes a nearly a year to train an MRI technologist in an accredited program and the technologist must quit full time employment to train.

The private sector will use our public hospitals as farm clubs for technologists. They will be able to offer them an easier job that pays more. Recruiting of CT and MRI technologists has already started. Given the acute shortages of diagnostic imaging technologists this plan will only further erode the ability of public hospitals to provide these services. Soon there will be even fewer technologists left in the hospitals to do the most time consuming and invasive procedures. No hospital will be able to operate its machines to full capacity without the trained professionals to operate them.

Let's get these new machines into public hospitals, eliminate the profit factor, and ensure proper funding for staffing and maintenance so people in our communities get the diagnostic services they need in a timely way.

Sincerely,

Pat Collyer,
OPSEU Local 575,
The Scarborough Hospital