N.L. Health Minister Lela Evans said northern Labrador residents should consider legal action if medical transport delays persist.
Newfoundland and Labrador Health Minister Lela Evans says residents of northern Labrador should consider suing the provincial government if medical transport delays continue to leave patients and passengers stranded.
Evans made the unusually blunt comments Wednesday morning on CBC Radio’s Labrador Morning , saying she could not accept remaining health minister if people in the region continue to face what she described as unacceptable treatment.
“I can’t accept being the ... minister of health while my people continue to be treated like this,” Evans said.
The issue centres on travel to and from medical appointments in Happy Valley-Goose Bay for people on Labrador’s north coast. Evans said 94 passengers were recently unable to get home, while other patients were also trying to leave their communities for care.
Evans called the delays insulting and upsetting. She also said the transport provider told her patient treatment “bordered on racism.” CBC News reported it had asked Medavie Health N.L. for a response.
The minister said she intends to address the problems, but said stronger action may be needed if service does not improve.
“If it continues to go on, I would suggest that people in northern Labrador try to find a lawyer and actually have a class-action lawsuit for the failures and sue me, the minister of health,” Evans said. “Sue the government.”
Evans said she was shocked after becoming health minister to learn that medical evacuation services for coastal Labrador had been reduced under the previous Liberal government. She said she initially had high hopes for Medavie Health N.L., but has since seen what she called an “erosion of service” after Medavie was contracted and after the province consolidated health authorities under N.L. Health Services.
She said travel problems can affect whether people seek treatment at all, and raised the possibility of bypassing the provincial government to seek support directly from Ottawa. Evans said northern Labrador is being treated like a “third-world country.”
CBC News reported it had also asked the premier’s office for a response. Evans’ remarks came hours before the Progressive Conservative government was set to release its first budget.
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