Press Releases
Nicholls: “Ontarians trust betrayed again and again under Health Minister’s watch”
July 27, 2012
(QUEEN’S PARK) – Chatham-Kent-Essex MPP Rick Nicholls grilled Minister Deb Matthews today about the never-ending troubles at her Ministry of Health, and the eHealth system that never seems to materialize.
“As the Minister herself admitted today, the eHealth system that has seen so much scandal, so much wasteful overspending, and so many inexplicable delays is yet again falling short of the mark,” said Nicholls.
“Now we see a key component of the eHealth project – a Drug Information System that is meant to help emergency room doctors see the drugs a patient is taking – is encountering extreme delays. Yet the Minister not only cannot give a timeline; she cannot even say what vendor will be awarded the contract.”
The Auditor General’s report indicated that the DIS was meant to be completed over four years and operational by 2013, yet as of July 2012 there has not been a vendor awarded the contract yet.
“Ontariofamilies and patients remember the $1 billion eHealth scandal from just a few years ago,” said Nicholls. “They were assured by this McGuinty government the problem would be fixed.
“Yet the price tag for eHealth is now up to $2.4 billion, the Minister can’t answer even basic questions about key components of the program, and Ontarians are still without a fully functioning, effective electronic medical records system.”
Nicholls said the Minister’s failure on a number of initiatives, from the ongoing ORNGE scandal right down to the missing-in-action Diabetes Registry (which has missed five deadlines), is emblematic of this government’s inability to bring in any project on time or on budget.
“From an eHealth system nobody has seen, to wind turbines nobody wants, to aMississaugagas plant nobody knows what to do with, this government has failed time repeatedly whenever a significant investment of taxpayer dollars is on the line.”
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