After entering creditor protection, ELNA to close one West Island clinic, relocate another
Statcare clinic to close on Dec. 31, and ELNA Pierrefonds to relocate as of Jan. 6
Less than two weeks after entering creditor protection, a Montreal-based health-care provider with a major footprint across Canada is shutting down one of its clinics and relocating another.
In a statement sent to CBC News on Sunday, a spokesperson for ELNA Medical Group said Statcare, a minor emergency clinic located next to the Lakeshore General Hospital in Pointe-Claire, will close on Dec. 31.
Spokesperson Jonathan Prunier said the medical group is working with the regional health authority, clinics in the ELNA network and clinics in the vicinity to "ensure continuity of care."
Prunier stressed that since Statcare operates exclusively as a minor emergency clinic, "no patients were 'followed' at that clinic on a regular basis."
"The vast majority of physicians practicing minor emergencies at Statcare also practice family medicine at GMF Stillview, located in the same medical complex," he said.
The company also announced that ELNA Pierrefonds, another one of its clinics located in Montreal's West Island, will be moving on Jan. 6. In the statement, Prunier insisted the clinic is not closing.
"All family doctors will move their practice at Brunswick Medical, located five kilometres away," Prunier wrote.
"The vast majority of specialists have also confirmed the transfer of their practice at Brunswick Medical. We are finalizing the details with the remaining few who have not confirmed yet."
ELNA, which bills itself as Canada's largest network of medical clinics, announced it had entered creditor protection on Dec. 12. ELNA's network includes family medicine and specialty clinics, as well as diagnostic laboratories.
The development raises questions about the future of ELNA and its patients, and more broadly, the growing presence of private clinics in Quebec.
Written by Antoni Nerestant