Health Inquiry extending hearings
Posted Jan 18, 2013 3:04 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
New evidence uncovered this week at the healthcare queue jumping inquiry, about the Helios Clinic and colonoscopies have led to more questions.
Dr. Mark Swain, head of gastroenterology at the Foothills Hospital, testified he heard the Helios Clinic had been set up as a reward for wealthy donors to the university.
He was also concerned a colleague managed to have his patients bumped to the top of the wait list that is two to three years long.
“My feeling was the practice needed to stop, and whoever had the authority to make sure that stopped, should make sure it stopped. And that was not me,” he says.
Swain says the only way that clerks would have been able to move someone up the queue, is if they received direction from someone else.
Lawyers for the provincial health inquiry say they need more time and testimony to complete their investigation.
Lead commission council Michele Hollins says they’ll have to ask now for more dates to be tried here in Calgary.
“My understanding is that we are looking at resuming evidence in this inquiry on February 19th, and that we anticipate having a day set aside to complete the evidence, February 19th, 20th, and then the following week,” she says.
It’s unclear as to whether or not this could delay the date for the justice’s report on April 30th.
