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Rural Albertans should be wary of health-care changes

Over the years, two of my friends were retired medical doctors who had worked under a two-tiered health-care system in the U.K.
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Over the years, two of my friends were retired medical doctors who had worked under a two-tiered health-care system in the U.K.

They were furious when Premier Ralph Klein began suggesting a similar system for Alberta. They both agreed that it would never work in Alberta, and their reasons made perfect sense.

First of all, we don’t have nearly enough doctors and nurses to make it work. Secondly, our populations aren’t concentrated like they are in Europe.

The third point was the one that concerned them the most, because it would cost some rural Albertans their lives.

There is no way you could keep doctors and nurses working in rural Alberta, when they could make more money working in these private for-profit clinics and hospitals in the cities that this system would create.

We are having enough problems staffing these positions as it is.

Over the years, I have discussed this with many other doctors and nurses, and they have all agreed that these doctors were right.

This will create a horrific nightmare for our rural Albertans, especially our fellow seniors.

Alan K. Spiller, Edmonton