Sixty-one of the province's 159 public hospitals reported a deficit in the last fiscal year, according to media reports.
The Globe and Mail garnered the information from the province's 14 Local Health Integration Networks. In total, Ontario hospitals showed a $107 million shortfall in 2009-10.
The article says northern hospitals appeared to be falling behind more than their southern counterparts. In the four most northern regions of the province, 31 hospitals were in the red, up from 20 in the previous year, the article states.
Sault Area Hospital, with a $13.6 million shortfall, and North Bay General Hospital, with a $10 million shortfall, had the second and third highest deficits among hospitals in the province.
Only Peterborough Regional Health Centre, which had a nearly $14 million deficit, was in a worse financial position.
Sudbury Regional Hospital reported a $4.8 million deficit in 2009-10, although hospital officials said the institution's financial position is better than they expected it to be. The deficit came in at $1 million less than the projection.
The hospital's CEO, Dr. Denis Roy, told Northern Life during the institution's annual general meeting last month that he is hopeful the hospital will be able to eliminate its deficit by the end of this fiscal year, or at least get pretty close to its goal.
In a press release about the media report put out by the provincial NDP, the party's leader, Andrea Horwath, said the shortfall shows that northern and rural hospitals are hard hit by underfunding.
“The McGuinty Liberals have consistently ignored this growing problem, as services have been cut and care has been sacrificed.”
Following protests against service cuts last year, the government struck a special panel that is supposed to make recommendations for the delivery of health care services in northern and rural communities.
But 15 months into the panel’s mandate, no progress has been made and funding shortfalls are growing, the press release stated.
“The McGuinty Liberals have turned their back on northern and rural Ontarians and their health care needs. Promises have been made, but there’s been no follow-up,” Horwath said.
