Power outage shines light on B.C. Liberal failures at St. Paul’s Hospital

VANCOUVER – Saturday’s power outage at St. Paul’s Hospital highlights how the failure of the B.C. Liberals to renew the hospital is putting patients at risk, say the New Democrats.

The hospital went completely dark Saturday evening before the backup generators kicked in.

“For years, New Democrats have been calling for significant improvements to St. Paul’s, but the B.C. Liberals – including two current leadership candidates who have held the health minister’s portfolio – have completely ignored the problem,” said New Democrat health critic Sue Hammell.

“Kevin Falcon and George Abbott were both in a position to fix this mess, but they refused. And even while this hospital is in crisis, Christy Clark wants to make further cuts to health care in this province. It’s clear that under the B.C. Liberals, there’s no plan to solve the infrastructure problems at St. Paul’s.”

Vancouver-West End MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert said his constituents are worried about the state of the hospital and wonder when it will finally get its due attention from the B.C. Liberals.

“A leaked report from Providence Health said the hospital’s infrastructure is ‘deplorable,’ said Chandra Herbert. “When we raised this issue in the legislature last week, the B.C. Liberals did everything they could to downplay the concern. It’s clear the power outage is just the latest symptom of a wider problem.

“The hospital has elevators that are decades old and fail 40 times per month. This government’s own reports from 2003 showed that major improvements were necessary.

“The hospital is a cornerstone of health care in this city,” said Chandra Herbert. “Letting it fall further into disrepair is simply unconscionable.”

St. Paul’s Hospital accounts for a third of all cardiac procedures in the province and 27 per cent of B.C.’s most serious and life-threatening cases.

“The report from Providence Health stated quite plainly that the decaying infrastructure is hampering the hospital’s ability to provide quality care,” said Hammell. “The B.C. Liberals promised in 2002 to fix St. Paul’s, but the hospital is in even worse shape now.”

B.C.’s New Democrats have been holding the B.C. Liberals accountable for their broken promises to protect health care and education.