In one day, Ontario midwife Manavi Handa saw three patients who will have to pay thousands of dollars to be able to schedule a C-section beginning on Sunday.
“The hospital would not book her C-section unless she pays $6,000 in advance,” Handa said, referring to one of her patients. “She has five weeks, she doesn’t have that money.”
The patient is a migrant from Central America without citizenship documentation, Handa said, and had her baby been born this week, the procedure would have been covered.
On April 1, the government of Ontario will end a program set up during the pandemic, which allowed uninsured patients to seek medical care. Hospitals and medical staff billed the government directly for their care.
A week ago, health-care professionals found out about the upcoming change, leading to demonstrations outside of Queen’s Park, shutting down the street around the Ministry of Health office in downtown Toronto.
“Ever since I’ve heard this announcement, I have been losing sleep,” said Dr. Shazeen Suleman, a paediatrician whose patients include refugee children and unaccompanied youth living in shelters.
One patient was 17 years old and weighed 35 pounds, she said, and hadn’t seen a doctor in years.
She says she is worried she won’t see some of her patients after Saturday ever again, and the ramifications could be dire.
“Children through no fault of their own are in this circumstance, and we are going to potentially let children die,” she said.
The government has defended its decision as a return to pre-pandemic reality, and maintain that people without insurance will still be able to receive care.
“There's no change in the way that uninsured persons will receive care in the province of Ontario,” Health Minister Sylvia Jones said on Monday.
“We’re going back to where community health-care centres, where emergency rooms, where individuals—who need services, OHIP funded services, and for any number of reasons do not have an OHIP card—have access [through these points of care],” she said.
Yet Handa says, like the rest of the health-care network, these centres are overwhelmed.
Her patients, she continued, are feeling overwhelmed and in some cases terrified.
“All of them, who were planning to have repeat cesarean sections—because that was safest for themselves and their babies—have asked me about birthing at home, alone,” she said.
Potentially putting two lives at risk, for every birth—a high cost to pay compared to a program the Ontario Medical Association says cost $15 million over three years.
The four children found unresponsive on a shoreline in Portneuf-sur-Mer, Que. Saturday did not survive, provincial police (SQ) have confirmed. The children, all over the age of 10, were among a group of 11 people swept away by the tide overnight while fishing in Quebec's North Shore region. Six of them were rescued and one man is still missing.
The U.S. Ambassador to Canada says America 'absolutely wants to have it both ways' when it comes to fighting climate change while pursuing fossil fuel projects.
New study finds increase in antipsychotic drugs use in long-term care homes across Canada, despite no significant increase in behavioural symptoms – something that may expose a potential area of concern for quality of care, researchers say.
Pope Francis warned the Vatican's missionary fundraisers on Saturday not to allow financial corruption to creep into their work, insisting that spirituality and spreading the Gospel must drive their operations, not mere entrepreneurship.
Canada is open to the idea of including a requirement to cut back on the production of plastic in a new global treaty to eliminate plastic pollution, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said Friday.
Photos released by NASA taken from International Space Station show the immense scale of the wildfires in Nova Scotia, with billowing smoke engulfing the landscape.
The four children found unresponsive on a shoreline in Portneuf-sur-Mer, Que. Saturday did not survive, provincial police (SQ) have confirmed. The children, all over the age of 10, were among a group of 11 people swept away by the tide overnight while fishing in Quebec's North Shore region. Six of them were rescued and one man is still missing.
Police are investigating the "suspicious death" of a man discovered shot dead in downtown Montreal Saturday. According to the SPVM, a man was found around 7:50 a.m. inside an apartment on Saint-Catherine and Beaudry Streets, in Montreal's Gay Village.
A Dunville, Ont. man is facing charges after he allegedly exposed his genitals to minors in a change room and committed voyeurism, police in Owen Sound said on Friday.
A late spring heat wave is prompting the Region of Waterloo to remind residents of the need to conserve water when possible as the annual water conservation bylaw takes effect.
A Sudbury teacher accused of having sex with a student has been found guilty of professional misconduct by the discipline committee of the Ontario College of Teachers.
The four children found unresponsive on a shoreline in Portneuf-sur-Mer, Que. Saturday did not survive, provincial police (SQ) have confirmed. The children, all over the age of 10, were among a group of 11 people swept away by the tide overnight while fishing in Quebec's North Shore region. Six of them were rescued and one man is still missing.
The community of Tecumseh is in mourning following the death of an OPP officer, a 9-1-1 dispatcher found himself on the opposite side of a 9-1-1 call, Stellantis has not yet confirmed a new deal for Windsor’s EV battery plant, a Windsor police officer is facing an assault charge, and a family in Chatham is desperate to find their lost exotic pet. Here’s a look at the top stories on ctvnewswindsor.ca this week.
In an effort to foster community relationships and deter criminal activity, Windsor police will have an increased presence in the downtown core beginning on Saturday.
Just after noon on Feb. 4, Barrie police received a 911 call from staff at a grocery store on Blake Street, where a woman had fled from a man's vehicle after he committed "serious and violent" offences against her.
Police charged three men, believed to be members of a street gang, with the attempted murder of a 65-year-old man who was shot 13 times while walking his dog in Schomberg in February.
A Halifax-area wildfire that forced thousands of residents from their homes over the past week is 85 per cent contained and no longer spreading, officials said Saturday morning.
Evacuees at the Sandy Wickens Memorial Arena in Barrington, N.S., are out of the fire zone but now face their own battle — how to cope with so much uncertainty, and what lies ahead.
It's the start of a new season at Moraine Lake and for the first time, you will have to take a shuttle bus to access the famous landmark -- no matter how early you're willing to show up.
With two Federal by-elections around the corner in Manitoba, party leaders hit the campaign trail to appeal to voters in Portage-Lisgar and Winnipeg South Centre.
The four children found unresponsive on a shoreline in Portneuf-sur-Mer, Que. Saturday did not survive, provincial police (SQ) have confirmed. The children, all over the age of 10, were among a group of 11 people swept away by the tide overnight while fishing in Quebec's North Shore region. Six of them were rescued and one man is still missing.
