Nouvelles

The Telegraph Journal
mercredi 12 novembre 2008

Bilingual health system no solution
Lettre d'opinion

I am writing in response to a Nov. 4 commentary by Dr. Michael Barry, chairman of the Saint John Board of Trade. From my understanding, his opinion also reflects that of the board members.

In essence, Dr. Barry states that New Brunswick cannot afford to have a dual health system, that in these times where one wishes to be efficient and reduce costs, we have to promote a bilingual health system, especially given the fact that New Brunswick is the only province that is officially bilingual. Additional spending in health care "would be hazardous to the fiscal health of (the) province."

According to him "To try to have a duality of medical professionals when it is difficult to locate one is going to put significant strain on health and provincial resources." So what is his solution? Finding a bilingual medical professional has got to be so much easier"¦

I fear that if one follows Dr. Barry's reasoning, the next logical step would be to merge hospitals, especially here in Moncton, because why should we have two bilingual hospitals within a 10 km radius? And then later on - well, a unilingual specialist is better than no specialist, so be happy and be quiet.

By the way, I visited the Saint John Board of Trade's website. The site was not bilingual, and there were no links to a French website. I guess we're off to a good start!

HOÏ SING CHAN TANG

Moncton