Over the last couple of years I have had numerous complaints about the cost of Ambulance services. We live in a rural area, and therefore generally the distance travelled from our home to the hospital is much greater than it is in Winnipeg, and therefore the cost becomes greater. No one has complained to me about this cost, but I often receive complaints from Constituents who are required to take the ambulance from a local hospital into Winnipeg to receive service. It’s these interfaculty services that are contentious. Why should we pay for ambulance services from our own local hospital to another hospital if our local hospital does not have the service and it is medically necessary to take the ambulance? I believe these services should be covered by the general Health department budget – either cover these costs, or provide the service in our local hospitals! In rural Manitoba we are treated very differently than those in Northern Manitoba. If you are transported to Winnipeg by air ambulance (airplane or helicopter) to receive medical treatment you don’t pay for the cost of the air ambulance – it’s absolutely free! I’m not suggesting that the air ambulance be paid for by the user, but why should we in rural Manitoba pay for ambulance costs to be transported into Winnipeg when our own hospital does not provide the service?

A recent example of this occurred in Brandon when a Brandon mother received a $808.00 ambulance bill to transport her 7 year old daughter to Winnipeg for emergency surgery in Winnipeg because no surgeon was available in Brandon. She refused to pay the bill on the grounds that the emergency surgery that her daughter needed ought to have been available in Brandon!

Those who live outside Winnipeg should not be treated like second class citizens!