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Lela Evans says she can’t accept being Newfoundland and Labrador’s health minister if things don’t change — and suggested people sue her and her government over medical transport delays in Northern Labrador.
“I can’t accept being the … minister of health while my people continue to be treated like this,” Evans said Wednesday morning.
People on Labrador’s north coast have faced delays getting to and from medical appointments in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Evans says. The minister said there were recently 94 passengers unable to get home, in addition to patients trying to get out.
Evans called the delays insulting, upsetting and unacceptable. The transport provider told her patient treatment “bordered on racism,” Evans said.
CBC News has reached out to the company, Medavie Health N.L., for a response.
In a shocking interview with CBC’s Labrador Morning, Health Minister Lela Evans says she isn’t sure she can stay on in her portfolio given the travel delays for medical patients on the North Coast of Labrador. The CBC’s Zach Goudie has more.
The minister said she will be addressing these issues, but also suggested people take legal action against her own government.
“If it continues to go on, I would suggest that people in northern Labrador try to find a lawyer and actually have a class-action lawsuit for the failures and sue me, the minister of health,” said Evans.
“Sue the government.”
Evans was speaking to the host of CBC Radio’s Labrador Morning, hours before the Progressive Conservatives release their first budget.
Treated like a ‘third-world country’
Evans says when she became health minister, she was shocked to see that medical evacuation services for coastal Labrador had been reduced under the previous Liberal government.
She had high hopes for Medavie Health N.L. However, she’s seen “erosion of service” since Medavie was contracted, and since consolidating the health authorities under N.L. Health Services.
Evans said “drastic measures” are needed if delays continue.
“What’s the point of even [having] the provincial government manage the health-care system for Northern Labrador?” said Evans. She noted travel delays affect whether people seek treatment in the first place.
Evans talked about bypassing the provincial government, and reaching out to the federal government directly for supports.
Northern Labrador is treated like a “third-world country,” she said.
CBC News has asked the premier’s office for a response.
