Proposed MUHC Merger Would Create an Extreme Form of Centralization Further and Further Away From Patients

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Photo: Steve Buissinne / Pixaby

The merger would combine nine acute-care hospitals and more than 50 health institutions

Dr. Lawrence Rosenberg, head of the West-Central Montreal Health authority, is the front runner to replace former CEO Normand Rinfret and he would like to see a merger between the MUHC, the West Island CIUSSS and the West-Central Montreal CIUSSS. The merger would combine nine acute-care hospitals, more than 50 health institutions, with a yearly budget of more than $2.5 billion.

The news of the proposed merger brought a flashback of the 2002 Montreal city mergers, which merged all 28 municipalities on the island into a- Megacity On January 1, 2006 a ‘demerger’ of the ‘MegaCity’ took place.

The risks of Rosenberg’s proposal is that it deals with health care services and not with roads or garbage pickup. The province of Alberta experimented with health mergers only to reverse them five years later.

“We already have a health system that is destabilized, amputated and cut back (under Bill 10), and now without any documentation or justification, the minister wants to merge these three organizations. This merger would create a mega-organization with a budget of $2.5 billion. It’s an extreme form of centralization, with decisions that would be removed further and further away from the patients.” PQ health critic, Diane Lamarre.

Source the Montreal Gazette

The merger would combine nine acute-care hospitals, more than 50 health institutions, with a yearly budget of more than $2.5 billion.

MUHC

The Montreal Chest Institute,
Montreal Children’s Hospital,
Montreal General Hospital,
Royal Victoria Hospital,
Montreal Neurological Institute,
Lachine Hospital.

Montreal West Island health board (CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal)

The Douglas Mental Health hospital
St. Mary’s Hospital

Jewish General Hospital is part of the West Central Montreal Health (CIUSSS Centre-Ouest-de-l’Ile-de-Montréal)

Source CBC