Desire for Surgery Has Local Couple Resorting to Trip

Wednesday, January 04, 2006 04:00 AM

72 year old Pat Wilkinson of Prince George heads off to India on January 14th accompanied by his wife Barb, where he will undergo surgery to replace a knee cap.

Pat says “When you talk to a specialist in BC they talk in weeks and months not days, and so we decided to take a holiday in India while at the same time have my knee cap replaced”.

Pat is not far off the mark. According to the Ministry of Health, at the end of October, there were 194 people waiting for knee replacement surgery at PGRH. Wait times for knee surgery can range (depending on the Doctor) from 5-40 weeks, and that would be for a priority case.

Wilkinson says “The area we’re heading to is a resort area and so after I leave the hospital we’ll vacation there. The cost of the surgery is $6,500.00 Canadian and my wife can stay in a special suite in the hospital while I’m recovering”.

It’s a joint venture between a German company and an Indian company and they own the resorts in addition to the medical facilities. Pat says they perform all sorts of operations “My wife Barb and I figure that we will spend about $13,000 dollars, including the operation and air fare for the trip.” He was furnished with a medical Visa to get into the country through an agent the company has in Ottawa and a broker set up the whole thing. “We just sent off the medical information to them and they replied asking us what date we wanted to come to the medical facility.”

The suite at the hospital is free said Mr. Wilkinson “So this looks like a very good deal. I’ll report back to you after I return from India.”

The couple returns to Prince George on February 9th

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Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2006 04:00 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on January 4 2006 7:33 AM

What agent in Ottawa? Did Chretien set this up? Or Jack Lawton?

Posted by: Mike on January 4 2006 9:39 AM

I say good for them and to hell with this overpriced doctor crap in Canada. Get what you need when you need it. My mom (49 yrs old)died in the PGRH of a heart attack and was in overnight for a supposedly 'nervous condition'. My brother died at 45 yrs on a surgery wait list under the Socred reign of Bruce Strachan. We should be kicking anyones ass who tells us we have to wait for our useless health system.. It's a great system until you get sick!

Posted by: fedup on January 4 2006 2:53 PM

I have some friends who had to go to the states to get thier little girl diagnosed and treated all they got here and in Vancouver was the run around cost them $12000. I just don't get why we fight so hard for our run down medical system.As soon as you say 2 tier everyone runs scared well its too late we already have tiers we just don't know how many yet, thier is better care for WCB,athletes,politicians and of course the well off who can afford to go else where.

Posted by: diplomat on January 4 2006 5:14 PM

Actually, the money that these people will pay to the clinic in India would have been better spent in Canada if clinics of this kind would be available here.

Perhaps Canadian clinics can compete with those in India and provide jobs and foreign exchange?

Politicians of all parties continue to pretend that we have a single tier healthcare system - when in fact it hasn't been for a long time. To acknowledge that fact however would be political suicide.

Tim Hortons is not Canadian anymore, since it is owned by the American investment firm that also owns Wendy's - yet people hold it up as a Canadian institution together with our "world's best" healthcare system.

Some beliefs hang around a long time after they have been proven to be illusions, and nothing more.

Posted by: Mike on January 4 2006 6:13 PM

I hate to say it but if acknowledgement of a two-tier healthcare is political suicide, we have a very large population of idiots doing the voting. That explains why the West's vote doesn't count!

Posted by: Chester on January 4 2006 9:52 PM

We do have a two tier health care system. Ask anyone who chooses to go to Banff for Cosmetic Surgery? Ask those who head off to Calgary for Laser Eye Surgery? Ask those who go state side for treatment of cancer? etc. etc.

The reason people go, is because they cannot get diagnosed or treated in a timely fashion here.

It's not about the money. People who have the money and choose to pay should have that choice.

Why is it that there are so many that think it is fair to bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator and call things fair. Life isn't fair and everyone isn't equal.

Some people work twice as hard, some work half as hard and some don't ever work at all. Is that fair? Of course not, so why expect the levels of service to be the same for the producers in our society as those who produce nothing?

If our system was so great, you wouldn't have to force people to protect it. They would want to. Chester

Posted by: spanky on January 4 2006 9:58 PM

Give er bud. I hope you have no complications as the price could start to rise. Sounds risky to me and no offense but you don't exactly look 25 anymore. How long is the plane trip over there? Doesn't sound like much fun coming or going. I would rethink it dude.

later..........

Posted by: diplomat on January 5 2006 7:31 AM

Throw out the question about single tier healthcare during the next debate and see how many of the leaders will "come clean."

None.

Even Ottawa politicians, including those of the NDP sent their relatives to have special life saving surgery in the USA and elsewhere when the waiting list is too long.