Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Michael Mantha's pushing the provincial government to address potential closures of Northern emergency rooms.
Speaking in Question Period Tuesday, the independent MPP noted the Manitoulin Health Centre announced last week it might have to close one of its ERs for days throughout October due to a doctor shortage, with other hospitals - like Thessalon's - also facing closure threats due to staffing issues "for months on end".
Mantha called it "unacceptable", emphasizing "this government cannot continue to allow rural hospitals to go short staffed", calling for the P-C government to act now to avoid closures happening in rural and Northern communities, pointing out the Ontario Medical Association estimated last year that the North needed 364 new physicians to maintain adequate levels of care, with Mantha adding "overburdened doctors in the North are burning out and closing down their practices to move elsewhere".