The MLA for Kamloops North Thompson suggests the upcoming closure of the Thompson Region Family Obstetrics Clinic is concerning.
Earlier this month, BC Health Minister Adrian Dix said he is optimistic there will be a solution to address issues at the TFRO clinic, which is set to close in July due to a lack of doctors.
BC United Peter Milobar says Dix’s comments feel all too familiar.
“It’s sad, but it’s starting to sound just like the Cancer Center. They don’t ever seem to want to give any definitive answers,” he said.
“In this serious situation, it’s something that they’ve been having warnings about over the last year that was likely going to happen. The management style and the minister’s response seem to be hoping that things will just magically work themselves out.”
Milobar says the “dragging of the feet from the Health Minister” is concerning.
“That is the frustration I have with all of this, is that he seems to be trying to have the cake and eat it too, and Kamloops is suffering greatly as a result of this and the maternity care is the latest example over the last six years, that we’ve seen a degradation of that.”
Milobar says with a city the size of Kamloops, in addition to the surrounding communities it serves, there should be a “reasonable level of access to maternity health.”
“That is the problem though, we’re getting to that point as a community, I think, that we have very little faith in what the Health Minister and IHA are doing in regards to health care in our overall region.”
Pointing to a petition launched by a new mother in Kamloops to help create awareness about the TRFO clinic closing, Milobar says it sends a strong message that the issue must be addressed.
“When it’s the broader public, speaking up, by way of a petition, it sends a very strong message that it’s not us trying to political with this or anything. This is us conveying what the community is saying; maternity care in Kamloops needs to be addressed and we need to have proper access for those people that are expecting.”
Milobar says he plans to bring the petition and the issue of maternity care access in Kamloops to the legislature on Monday.
“It helps elevate it helps send a message to the Health Minister and the legislature that there are 1000s of people that are concerned about this, and rightfully so.”
Additionally, Milobar says the province must open the lines of communication with healthcare professionals at the TRFO clinic in Kamloops, to try and keep the maternity clinics’ doors open.
