New Healthcare Measures in Saskatchewan 2011

Saskatchewan budget 2011 also strived to make some healthcare improvements. It increased its funding to Regional Health Authority (RHA) by $250 million (up from $2.8 billion) in order to increase compensation for drugs, medical supplies, and operating costs. It also increased funding to the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency by $12.6 million to provide a total of $121.9 million in order to provide more new patient appointments; chemotherapy treatments; mammograms; a doubling of the bone marrow transplants by providing this procedure to patients who previously had to travel out of province/country; and additional colorectal cancer screening.

This year’s budget also includes a $10.9 million funding allocation meant to address patient volumes for cardiac care, diagnostic imaging and chronic kidney disease. The government will allocate an additional $5 million to introduce the STARS program to Saskatchewan – a helicopter-based emergency trauma response system to supplement our existing air and ground ambulance systems. Although no specific funding measure was attached, a plan to reduce wait times to three months by 2014 was outlined in the budget speech.

Keywords: healthcare, costs, budget, treatment