TORONTO - Health Minister George Smitherman says there is no need for an independent investigation into the deaths of hundreds of patients in Ontario hospitals from C. difficile bacteria.
The Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats insist a provincewide inquiry is needed into the deaths of 260 patients from C. difficile at seven Ontario hospitals.
But Smitherman says hospital officials are aware of the problem and are taking the necessary steps to deal with it.
He says an inquiry would only delay implementing measures to better protect patients.
Smitherman promises an announcement within weeks to make it mandatory for hospitals to report C. difficile outbreaks, and says other infectious diseases will be added to that reporting list later.
Conservative health critic Elizabeth Witmer says it's `unbelievable' that Smitherman couldn't say exactly how many people have died from C. difficile in Ontario or which hospitals have had outbreaks.
