Dear Editor:
I highly appreciated the detailed report from Dr. Alan W. Ruddiman that appeared in your newspaper on August 20, in which he detailed the good attitude and services being provided by our local doctors at the South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver.
Ruddiman’s letter also detailed the efforts to have sufficient doctors in our area as well as other qualified staff.
He also states that hospital beds in Oliver for acute care have been reduced from 40 to 18, which was the reason some local residents in Osoyoos complained in your newspaper.
Knowing the Ministry of Health has, in the past, demanded that hospital administrators not allow less than 90 per cent occupancy and provide appropriate staff for this number of beds, this means that ordinarily there will not be more than two free beds for patients most of the time.
We, the people of this area, are taxed for part of the construction and maintenance of the hospital and as the people who pay the bills, I suggest that we should have some say in the matter.
Can the hospital administrator vouch that there are enough empty beds, being two, for any winter or summer accidents in our area, regardless of road conditions?
If so, then I presume Dr. Ruddiman’s letter was of great service in informing people. If not, citizens or patients who feel that the hospital service was not so good and/or have had to be transported by ambulance up and down to Penticton or Kelowna, should make themselves heard.
My opinion is that if we leave all of the opinions to B.C. Health Services staff, they would suggest closing the hospital and doing away with all the staff as that would save a great deal of money. Thanks for allowing me to voice an opinion on this issue.
Peter Newport
Osoyoos, B.C.
