Quadra Island-based Strathcona Regional District director Jim Abram makes a strong case for the elimination of parking fees at new hospitals on the north island.
Parking charges flout the founding principles of the Canada Health Act.
The Act sets out the primary objective of Canadian health care policy which is “to protect, promote, and restore the physical and mental well-being of residents of Canada and to facilitate reasonable access to health care services without financial or other barriers.”
The sicker you are and the more you frequent hospitals, the more parking fees you pay. Visitors have to pay and yet by the very act of visiting they provide comfort and affection to patients which is all part of the healing process.
People rushing to the emergency department with what they believe to be an emergency condition should not have to be fretting over finding change for the parking meter.
I wonder if Judy Brownoff, or James Hanson or Health Minister Terry Lake realize that for a person of limited means, visiting a loved one over a period of weeks or months can impose a financial strain.
The Canadian Medical Association Journal contained an editorial advocating the abolition of hospital parking fees as they are a barrier to health care.
They have been abolished in England, Scotland, and Wales.
Clive Bruton, North Saanich