The provincial auditor has reported that the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) needs to find more than 2,000 workers in hard to recruit positions over the next five years. While the provincial government has announced a $60 million dollar Health Human Resources Plan, it is simply too little, too late. This bandaid solution is further eroded by the ongoing privatization of healthcare agencies who are able to recruit healthcare workers from the public system.
We echo the demands of the Saskatchewan Health Coalition in calling for:
- An advisory body to deal with the unprecedented healthcare staffing shortage
- Bring back Saskatchewan universal dental care plan for children 13 years and under
- Universal, single payer pharmacare
- Stop the privatization of healthcare and long-term care facilities and the ongoing two-year long-term care pilot project