Rachel Notley says Calgary hospitals are not being properly maintained
NDP leader says there is roughly $100M in overdue work
Alberta's New Democrats say the Tories are lagging when it comes to hospital maintenance in the province.
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Leader Rachel Notley released some Alberta Health Services (AHS) documents Friday morning that say there's nearly $100 million in overdue work to be done at three Calgary hospitals.
The work ranges from roof replacements to asbestos monitoring to fire safety.
Notley says the government didn't keep up when financial times were good, and she says the work must be done now — low oil prices or not.
"Albertans care about their health-care system probably more than anything else and this government has avoided doing this kind of important work because it doesn't make for good press conferences and good photos ops," she said.
Most of the maintenance work is needed at Foothills hospital — which is the largest in Alberta.
Government reacts
A spokesperson for Alberta's health minister says information about needed hospital repairs is not new.
Steve Buick says this was talked about in the legislature in the fall and the health minister is working on it.
"We're very glad that people had a chance to look at the detail and hear about the issue. It's an important issue. We need to spend money on maintenance in hospitals and other facilities," he said. "The minister's absolutely clear that maintenance is a basic priority for the health system and it's a top priority for him."
Buick says there are more maintenance needs than can be funded in one year.
He says the department is spending about $70 million a year on hospital repairs and any work that would affect patient care or safety gets taken care of right away.