To the Editor:

All Manitobans should be very concerned at BRHA CEO Gloria King's attempts to manipulate and deceive the public during the BRHA's annual general meeting Nov. 22. The message that King relayed is that things are progressing. The truth is that under Gloria King's direction, the delivery and quality of health care and health standards and levels in Northern Manitoba have deteriorated to dangerous levels unprecedented in the North's history.

King noted the BRHA's overall employment vacancy rate is 6.5 per cent overall. However she failed to note the most important figure: physicians and nurses. The physician vacancy rate at 45 per cent and nursing vacancy rate at 24 per cent has deteriorated to the worst levels in the province and these are the crucial, frontline positions in our medical delivery system.

When Gloria King came to power the BRHA had 34 full time physicians, including two full-time pediatricians and two full-time surgeons. Within 13 months nearly 40 per cent of the physicians resigned or left. The BRHA is funded for 43.8 physicians but has only 24 on staff with no full- time pediatrician and no surgeon. The failure to provide a pediatrician for 20,000 children in the BRHA's catchment area was raised in the legislature three times by the opposition this past spring. The BRHA would not admit my findings that this is the first time in the history of Thompson that the BRHA has been devoid of both, a full- time surgeon and pediatrician.

When this senior management team took over in 2005 the nursing vacancy rate was only nine per cent. By 2009 the nursing vacancy rate mushroomed to 24 per cent or more than double the provincial average of 11 per cent.

The BRHA have done a woeful job by driving professionals from town and have exacerbated this failure by failing to replace those same professionals who bolted. The BRHA has attempted to make up for this demise by flying in temporary physicians and nurses from across the country at ridiculous and exorbitant costs to the taxpayers (locums). Locum nursing costs have increased $3.1 million from 2005-2009. The figures for locum physicians are also in the millions.

It is misleading manipulation or an absolute falsehood when Gloria King claims the BRHA has “got the most stable physician workforce in probably the last 20 years in Thompson right now,” when in fact the BRHA has lost both its pediatricians and surgeons and nearly 40 per cent of the doctors have fled.

Gloria King may believe she is being proactive by fending off criticism (which she rightly expects and more than deserves) but fails to mention that most credible and serious criticism has been directed at the BRHA – 15 times in the most important forum available to the citizens of our province; our Manitoba legislature, since April of last year. The BRHA have not only been criticized in question period but also in committee debates, during reading of bills, by way of a once-a-year grievance and a rare Meeting of Urgent Public Importance (MUPI) request by former Liberal MLA Kevin Lamoureux (now MP), who called the BRHA “completely out of control.” No other remote RHA has been singled out like this. Not only are they an embarrassment to themselves, they are also and embarrassment to all citizens who rely on the service provided by the BRHA.

Chief Financial Officer Raj Thethy noted a deficit of more than $197,000 because of locum costs. What he failed to note is that the BRHA budget has risen $7 million in the past few years mainly to cover nursing and physician locum costs.

Thethy also failed to disclose that when this senior management came to power in 2005 BRHA administration costs were reasonable at only $1.6 million. Within four years Gloria King and Paul Therrien shot this up almost 400 per cent to nearly $6 million. At 8.2 per cent of budget in 2008 it was the highest of all regional health authorities. Meanwhile quality of care has plummeted with complaints going up 237 per cent from 2006-2008. Only in the BRHA can costs go through the roof while quality of care tumbles into the sub-basement gutter.

Liberal leader Dr. Jon Gerrard challenged NDP Premier Greg Selinger in the legislature to open an inquiry on the quality of care provided by the BRHA and compared it to Somalia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Gloria King's claim that the BRHA takes all complaints seriously is totally insincere and completely laughable.

In the past few years Burntwood had unprecedented outbreaks of necrotizing fasciitis, H1N1, whooping cough, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), deterioration of maternal outcomes to the lowest levels in Canada and quite possibly soon, an outbreak of influenza. Public health standards and levels have deteriorated to levels worse than many Third World nations. The BRHA has failed to take any public health initiatives to tackle these outbreaks. They have not even hired someone with a background in public health. The BRHA's response was to give blue lights to non-smoking homes in one remote community (hooray, cheer, clap).

If this were a private business, Gloria King and the rest of the entire incompetent team would have been fired years ago. They should do the North and hard-working taxpayers a great favour and leave. They have done enough damage.

Hussain Guisti
Winnipeg