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LETTER: B.C.’s Emergency Health Services act does disservice to public

BC is about 50 years behind the rest of the first world…
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To the Editor,

With respect to providing our loved ones with timely, modern, high-functioning ambulance services; BC is about 50 years behind the rest of the first world. Almost no one knows just how grossly underserved British Columbians are thanks to the NDP-created and passed ‘Emergency Health Services Act’; a law which actually makes it illegal for roughly 75,500 of BC’s medical professionals and first responders to provide our loved ones with their full medical licence level of care and transport to a hospital, even if they are in critical condition.

How can any caring government pass such a draconian law? This law applies even if the hospital is in sight of the patient’s location, like from the hospital parking lot. This law applies to all medical professionals while they are ‘at work’, when they are ‘off work’, it doesn’t. How does such a bizarre, insane, deadly law assure best possible patient outcomes for our most seriously ill or injured loved ones?

This law applies to: 14,000 doctors, 34,000 registered nurses, 4,000 career firefighters, 10,000 volunteer firefighters, 10,230 police officers and 3,350 of BC’s 6,800 registered emergency medical technicians (EMTs), from providing their full licence level care and transport to a hospital. That means our loved ones lives can only be saved by about 3,750 BCEHS-employed EMTs, of which only 1,350 are full-timers and circa 2,400 are part-timers. This is the level of EMS care that the BC NDP thinks is ‘adequate’ for our loved ones on what could be the worst day of their lives.

This, for BC’s almost 4.9 million residents.

Just next door in Alberta, they have roughly 72,500 medical professionals/first responders, all are legally allowed to provide their full licence level of care and if necessary, transport to hospital. Alberta also has 500,000 fewer residents. No other first world country has anything like the BC NDP EHS Act. Are you OK with that? Think about that the next time you wait a half an hour or longer for an ambulance and especially remember these facts the next time you vote. I sure will!

H. Dysarsz,

via e-mail