Following this week’s update on the implementation of the Higgs Government’s Health reform, the Liberal Opposition is expressing disappointment with how little has been done to improve the sustainability of New Brunswick healthcare.

“The core of the problems facing our healthcare system is the lack of sufficient human resources to deliver services” says Jean-Claude D’Amours, the Official Opposition Health critic. “We have been asking for a comprehensive recruitment and retention strategy for years, but Minister Shephard’s health reform plan has very little in it to address recruitment and retention.

The Liberal Health critic is discouraged by the lack of urgency to improve the situation while the province continues to lose healthcare professionals leading to multiple

service interruptions.

“The people of Campbellton have been without an obstetrics unit since 2020, Sackville residents only have access to their hospital on weekdays between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm, St Quentin has lost its overnight emergency department at least until the end of July, and four oncologists have quit just within the last year. This province is failing everyone: new mothers, rural residents, and cancer patients, not to mention the 63 000 people currently waiting for a primary care physician” says Mr. D’Amours. The Higgs Government has created an unsustainable healthcare system and they seem to be in no rush to fix it; it’s very damaging to our province’s reputation.”

According to a recent Angus Reid report, 83% of New Brunswick’s population think government is a poor job at managing healthcare.

“Four out of five New Brunswickers agree that this Government is doing poorly in terms of healthcare. The Minister of the Health and the Premier are not in a position to deliver reliable healthcare services to its population, how is that not a dire concern?” questions Jean-Claude D’Amours. “After years of our healthcare system deteriorating, there is still a lack of real initiatives that would attract more healthcare workers to the province, entice more students to study in a medical field, or improve the situation for those already working in the system.”