Ontario is lengthening a program that aids rural and northern hospitals in preventing temporary ER closures for an additional six months.
The province created the Temporary Locum Program during the pandemic, and has extended it multiple times, often at the eleventh hour.
It was supposed to expire at the end of this month, but the Ministry of Health has now informed eligible hospitals that it will be in effect until Sept. 30.
Several of the province’s more remote hospitals depend on doctors from urban areas to cover shifts on a locum basis, and the Temporary Locum Program provides them with a bonus as an incentive.
A representative for Health Minister Sylvia Jones has stated that the government is collaborating with the Ontario Medical Association on a permanent solution.
NDP health critic France Gelinas has expressed that the government should devise a permanent solution now, instead of repeatedly extending the program on a temporary basis at the last minute.
