Dear Editor,
In his letter of February 2, Mr Colin Creasey suggests that the problems in the provincial health service are caused largely by inadequate funding, which is a perfectly reasonable suggestion.
However, if there was a direct correlation between spending and quality of healthcare, then the United States, which spends by far the most on healthcare in the world (US$11,945 per person in 2020), should have the best healthcare system in the world, but clearly it does not. On the other hand, Australia, which spends relatively modestly on healthcare (US$4,919 per person in 2020), is considered to have an excellent healthcare system. Canada spends a little more on healthcare than Australia (US$5,370 per person in 2020), but clearly we are not getting Australian service for our money.
What this suggests to me is that there is something systemically wrong with the provincial healthcare system, which no amount of money can fix. Instead of reaching for band-aid solutions, perhaps the provincial government would be better advised to set up a committee to study three or four of the top-rated healthcare systems in the world, with a view to replacing our current, failing healthcare system with a better model.
Sincerely,
Alistair McCleery
