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Multinationals killing commmunity labs in Ontario

'Communities in which community medical laboratories have been closed due to Ontario government policies include Hamilton, Napanee, Smiths Falls, Perth, Bracebridge and Winchester.' - Ontario Health Coalition.

Toronto (14 Oct. 2009) - Documents released after a two-year freedom of information (FOI) battle with the Ontario government show that three multinational corporations have taken almost complete control of the community medical laboratory services across the province.

Ministry of health payments to these companies put them among the largest for-profit corporations providing health care in Canada. In 2006, they received a total of $524 million from the Ontario government:

  • MDS (now LifeLabs) $178,321,456
  • Gamma-Dynacare $173,493,668
  • CML Health Care $172,547,589
     

The Ontario Health Coalition (OHC), which ultimately obtained the information, says the documents show increasing privatization and consolidation of the province's laboratory system into the hands of fewer corporations.

"As of 2006, these three corporations controlled 93% of Ontario's $564 million community laboratory market, up from 43% in 1985. Meanwhile, the number of commercial laboratories in Ontario fell from 17 to 11 between 1999 and 2006," the OHC says.

"These documents reveal a surprising amount of private control of this publicly funded health care service," adds Ross Sutherland, a registered nurse and OHC board member.

"What is more surprising is that the ministry of health fought for two years against releasing information on how more than $500 million of our health care money is spent. It indicates an unacceptable level of secrecy and a bias in the ministry to protect for-profit health care corporations," he says.

"At the same time that the ministry was spending thousands of dollars shielding these private multinationals it was ordering the closure of the last non-profit community medical laboratories, laboratories that provided a better service at significantly less cost, according to the government's own documents."

Communities in which community medical laboratories have been closed due to Ontario policies include Hamilton, Napanee, Smiths Falls, Perth, Bracebridge and Winchester.

Patti Rout, first vice-president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE), says the situation is even worse because, along with forcing community laboratories to close, the McGuinty government is forcing hospitals to close public non-profit outpatient labs.

"Instead of using existing resources in the community hospitals, the McGuinty government is paying more to siphon off lab work to a handful of private corporations," Rout says.
 
"When it costs more, takes longer to process, and makes remaining inpatient lab services less efficient, one has to ask where the accountability for this poor decision is?"

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The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE