Freedom Flyer 3

Freedom Party praises AMI's handling of hospital

HAWKESBURY
-Liberal and New Democratic health critics see a danger in last year's decision to hire American Medical International to manage the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital.

But at least one provincial political party has come out in support of the move. Freedom Party of Ontario, which "believes that the purpose of government is to protect your freedom of choice, not to restrict it," says it "supports and welcomes all free market initiatives of this kind as providing a beginning for more common sense solutions to the continuing problems of inefficient hospital operation and escalating costs of hospital care."

Liberal and NDP M.P.P.s say that the AMI management contract could be the start of a "dangerous trend". They fear that profits will take priority over the quality of healthcare.

Freedom Party, which says it will be running candidates in the next provincial election, quotes Liberal health critic Sheila Copps as saying that "If we let the private sector take over we're in trouble, because their bottom line is profit.

Freedom Party says in a leaflet soliciting support that: "When John McLaughlin, the Canadian-born AMI administrator took over about a year ago, he found an out-dated management system, overdue financial statements, and poor equipment. By tying the small Hawkesbury hospital into AMI's chain of 130 hospitals operating in 13 countries, he provided access to the following: a centralized financial system supplying computerized information services, the advice of top-flight specialists on subjects ranging from diet to accounting, and bulk purchasing of supplies and equipment."

"McLaughlin also cut back on overtime and part-time staff, gave department heads responsibility for their budgets and taught them how to manage their budgets," Freedom Party says.

The party, which says "freedom of choice is what we're all about," says that AMI's methods resulted in the elimination of the hospital's $350,000 deficit, improvement in staff morale and the quality of patient care and production of a $369,000 profit.