Cuts in the healthcare network - The blade of the austerity budget falls on the Institut de réadaptation Gingras-Lindsay-de-Montréal

QUEBEC CITY, July 2, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - The president of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec – FIQ, Régine Laurent, and the president of the United Healthcare Professionals (UHCP), Michel T. Léger, took part today in a solidarity BBQ with several of the healthcare professionals to protest against the cuts at the Institut de réadaptation Gingras-Lindsay-de-Montréal.

"The government's austerity budget continues to be felt. And contrary to what the Minister of Health is saying, it is the services to the population that are being affected. At the Institut de réadaptation Gingras-Lindsay-de-Montréal, 24 beds will be closed and the equivalent of 20 healthcare positions will be abolished as a result of the cuts imposed by the Ministry of Health. The hemorrhage is continuing and the government is in denial" stated the president of the FIQ, Régine Laurent. 

Specifically, it is more than $3M that will be cut from the Institut de réadaptation Gingras-Lindsay-de-Montréal budget. "Our healthcare professionals already give their utmost and they will be asked to give even more. It will be the population that will inevitably endure these cuts. The government's austerity is jeopardizing the care and the services at the Institut de réadaptation Gingras-Lindsay-de-Montréal" added the president of the UHCP, Michel T. Léger.

The president of the UHCP noted that seniors will be particularly affected by these cuts. "We rightly want to keep seniors in their own homes as long as possible. But with the closure of 24 beds at Gingras-Lindsay we might well ask where they will go after a hospital stay if they are not ready to return home?"

"Today, we are demonstrating our solidarity for the exceptional work of our healthcare professionals. We are giving them all our support. We are also demonstrating against the absurd decisions of the Leitao budget and its cuts which affect all the users of the healthcare system. And when we know that the government plans even bigger cuts for next year, there is really cause for concern. Quebecers are entitled to have safe, quality care, but the government is insisting on depriving them of them", concluded Régine Laurent.  

About the FIQ and the UHCP

The UHCP represents nearly 7,500 nursing and cardio-respiratory healthcare professionals and is affiliated with the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec – FIQ which represents more than 62,000 members, the vast majority of the nursing and cardio-respiratory healthcare professionals working in the public institutions in Québec.

SOURCE: Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec - FIQ

Manuel Dionne, FIQ Communications, 514 210-6579