2004 Newsmakers: Health minister was in Greater Sudbury often in 2004

Ontario?s Health and Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman is not a Sudburian, but his actions have had quite an impact on health care services in the region over the past year.

Smitherman

The Dalton McGuinty Liberal government announced a lot of money for the Sudbury Regional Hospital in 2004, including 80 percent of construction costs for the new hospital building.

The openly gay MPP for Toronto Centre-Rosedale made the announcement in April, promising the new hospital would be up and running by 2007.

Construction on the hospital site will commence once again next spring. Smitherman said the Sudbury community has already given enough money, and their hospital will be completed without another major fundraising campaign.

The successful Heart and Soul campaign convinced the minister to change the government?s traditional funding formula from 70 to 80 percent. Sudbury

Regional Hospital won?t have trouble coming up with the other 20 percent, promised CEO Vickie Kaminski.

But that wasn?t the only funding Smitherman handed out this year.

In February, the minister also gave Sudbury Regional Hospital over $2 million for equipment aimed at improving workplace safety for staff and improving patient access to medical tests and treatment.

The hospital said they would purchase ceiling mounted bed lifts, computer tomography (CT) scanners, mammography, x-ray and ultrasound machines.

In August, Smitherman announced an additional $5,962,700 in funding for the Sudbury Regional Hospital.

Despite these announcements, the hospital board was worried about a $4.8 million projected deficit for 2004, because of Smitherman?s plans to force hospitals to balance their budgets by March, 2006.

At other hospitals in the north, balanced budgets have meant deep cuts to services.

However, in September, Smitherman approved the hospital?s multi-year recovery plan, which lays out a roadmap for balanced books by 2007-2009.

In late October, Smitherman was pulled into a conflict that was started after Dr. Rayudu Koka was fired as chief of staff at the Northeast Mental Health Centre (NEMHC).

The minister met with Koka, Greater Sudbury mayor Dave Courtemanche, and local health care advocate Gerry Lougheed Jr. to resolve the issue of local control of mental health services.

Smitherman promised to give control of local and district mental health services to the Sudbury Regional Hospital board of directors.