Ensuring the health and well-being of the population is widely considered a fundamental responsibility of government, acting as a cornerstone for sustainable economic growth and social stability. Citizens view it as an essential human right that they are allowed to reach their full potential, with the assurance of government working for the common good and the shared, ever-increasing national and provincial prosperity.
Good health is necessary for economic growth, with health inequalities often hindering development, particularly in rural or marginalized communities.
Here in Saskatchewan, we have a government that seems to have lost sight of the fact that healthcare is one of two areas (education being the other) that are very much a provincial responsibility politically. The SaskParty, who claim to care so deeply about the economic health of our province, has turned a blind eye to the economic hardships caused to our citizens by a healthcare system in shambles.
Prioritizing population health is essential for reducing the long term costs and the stagnation of lost productivity associated with illness. In fact, right now, we aren’t even close to the standard of healthcare that most of us grew up with in Saskatchewan and remember here from the past– and it shows in our economic well-being, or rather, lack of it.
Health problems and poverty are linked together in a vicious cycle. Poverty creates conditions that harm health (poor nutrition, housing, stress and more), while poor health can trap people in poverty by limiting work and increasing costs, leading to higher rates of chronic disease, worse health outcomes, and shorter life expectancies. Factors like unsafe neighbourhoods, lack of education, and inability to afford getting to care worsen this cycle, creating significant disparities in our society.
When hospitals and emergency departments become overcrowded, it creates a “bottleneck” effect that compromises patient safety, reduces the quality of care, and causes significant, unfair strain on healthcare staff.
This situation, often with demand well exceeding capacity, leads to a cascade of negative consequences for both patients and the healthcare system. We are hearing constant news stories in Saskatchewan of just how devastating this can be for people in our province.
Here are a few pertinent links:
The current crisis we are experiencing has root causes that need to be dealt with immediately:
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- A significant number of acute care beds are occupied by elderly patients who no longer need hospital care but have nowhere else to go.
- A lack of family doctors means patients use the emergency room for non-urgent or primary care issues.
- Staffing shortages and a lack of beds, compounded by spikes in seasonal illnesses, mean the system cannot handle surges in demand.
The SaskParty is failing in one of its basic, central duties to the citizens of this province. The next heartbreaking news story could be any one of our aunts, uncles, grandmothers or other loved ones. We must demand action now for our healthcare system!
The Green Party believes the right to good health is a fundamental human right.
The United Nations’ universal Right to Health demands the best attainable standard of physical and mental healthcare, encompassing not just access (timely, affordable, high quality) but also including the underlying determinants such as safe water, food, housing, education, and healthy environments. Right now, Saskatchewan isn’t even close to that UN standard.
Leader of the Saskatchewan Green Party,
Naomi Hunter
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