Today I visited the web site of the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) and I find that Neil Gardner(2) is a board member of the institute and that he has led the working group for Health Informatics/Telematics that provided recommendations on health information standards for client-centred health records. No wonder that the information technology implementations in health care have been disastrous all across Canada and that hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent in obsolete technologies. We recall that Neil Gardner(3) along with Brian Rourke(4) and others have been responsible for the biggest and secretive Information Technology flop ever undertaken in Saskatchewan: the Saskatchewan Health Information Network (SHIN)(5).

Today we have the news that two of Saskatoon's four neurosurgeons have resigned and that the other two will likely quit soon(6). We also understand that by the end of the year Saskatoon may lose as many as five anesthetists(7). Martin Zelder, director of health policy research at the Fraser Institute, has recognized the gross mismanagement in health care and has specifically targeted Saskatchewan as an example of a defective health care system by stating "Look at Saskatchewan... that province had the second-highest government health spending per person in 1999 and the longest total waiting time of all the provinces(8)."

This evening (October 12) I have been watching the local CTV News and when Minister of Health Pat Atkinson was questioned about the departure of our medical specialists from Saskatoon and about the fact that Saskatchewan has the longest waiting time of any other province, she discounted these concerns and replied that the departures of the medical specialists is due to 'personality conflicts' which are not conducive to a 'positive environment' and that the waiting times reported by the Fraser Institute are erroneous. Pat Atkinson is deadly wrong, and I find absurd to have a government which deliberately skews information(9), which systemically deceives people(10), and which continues to place good psychology above the interest of serving the people.

References/Endnotes

Articles by Mario deSantis 

1. Pat Atkinson: raising the finger and turning healthcare to a gambling casino, by Mario deSantis, February 3, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000/desantis110/HealthCasino.html

2. Neil Gardner is Executive Director, Corporate Information and Technology Branch, at Saskatchewan Health, Government of Saskatchewan http://www.cihi.ca/weare/bios.htm#Neil Gardner

3. Associate Minister of Health Judy Junor: defending the SHIN flop at the Legislature, by Mario deSantis, April 13, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000/desantis160/judyjunor.html

4. Brian Rourke wants more healthcare money: 40% of public expenditures are not enough, by Mario deSantis, November 14, 1999 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/desantis83/Rourke_Nov14-99.html

5. The problem with health care: 'Health-care Gorbachev' and the Tin Pot dictators, by Mario deSantis, June 16, 2000

6. Neurosurgery nightmare: Resignations put program on verge of collapse, by Jason Warick, The StarPhoenix, October 12, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

7. Saskatoon braces to lose anesthetists, CBC Saskatchewan, http://sask.cbc.ca Web Posted | Oct 12 2000 12:35 PM EDT

8. Fraser Institute says hospital waiting times longer, Canada News Wire, Vancouver, October 12, 2000 http://www.newswire.ca/releases/October2000/12/c2075.html

9. Premier Romanow's Government: Skewing Information and Keeping From Learning, by Mario deSantis, July 18, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000/desantis196/SkewJustice-Jul18-00.html

10. Premier Roy Romanow and Minister of Finance Eric Cline: Cheating the Electorate by Fragmenting Government's Accountability, by Mario deSantis, October 12, 2000