Hemodialysis Unit Treatment Relocation Ill-planned - Member's Statement

THE SPEAKER « » : The honourable member for Dartmouth South.

HEMODIALYSIS UNIT: TREATMENT RELOCATION - ILL-PLANNED

CLAUDIA CHENDER « » : Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak for the more than 60 dialysis patients who lost access to treatment at their own hospital.

This summer, the NSHA made the decision to move the hemodialysis unit from the Dartmouth General Hospital to the Victoria General Hospital in Halifax.

Calvin Kilgar reached out to my office with a document containing signatures from 35 other worried patients. This decision was made without consultation with the patients and puts further financial and logistical burdens on people who are living with an already challenging health condition, not to mention their caregivers.

Mr. Speaker, this decision is one of so many made in Halifax that makes sense on a spreadsheet but surely not in real life. The renovation of the Dartmouth General could have been staged to avoid this but it wasn't, and that's a shame.

THE SPEAKER « » : The honourable member for Halifax Armdale.