Ontario Health Coalition warns public hospitals underused while private clinics receive millions

Operating rooms and diagnostic equipment in Ottawa hospitals are sitting unused because the province isn't funding them to run full-time, according to a new report from the Ontario Health Coalition. Meanwhile, Ontario has paid $155 million to private businesses to open 57 MRI, CT, and endoscopy clinics across the province.

The shift began when the Ford government opened doors to private surgery and diagnostic scans, claiming the move would address wait times. Instead, the coalition argues, public hospitals received less funding and fewer operating hours, while wait times have not fallen despite the expanded private capacity.

Ottawa's situation reflects this pattern. Queensway Carleton has two MRIs. One closes overnight, while the other closes at 3 p.m. on weekdays and is closed on weekends. City hospitals have dozens of operating rooms, most closing by 5 p.m. and on weekends. Private clinics licensed in Ottawa in recent years include Herzig Eye Institute, Focus Eye Centre, and Academic Orthopaedic Surgical Associates of Ottawa—the last originating from The Ottawa Hospital itself.

"Local public hospitals already have the facilities," said Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, in the report. "Operating rooms and MRIs are sitting unused in local public hospitals because they are not given adequate funding to run them full time." The coalition added that for-profit clinics "have not reduced wait times for the majority, serving mostly a minority of high-income people while actually lengthening waits for the majority of patients."

Kevin Skerrett, a researcher and executive at the Ottawa Health Coalition, told the Ottawa Citizen: "What we've seen is a systematic bias against properly maintaining and funding our public health-care system and our public hospital system in favour of funding and supporting and encouraging the emergence of health care as a private business."

The coalition said if hospitals were properly funded, they could expand hours and perform many procedures for far less money than private clinics charge. As HOC reported in July, hospital parking fees have been stacking up. In August, clinics were found to be hiring too many doctors while phone lines went unanswered. And in late September, The Ottawa Hospital capped involuntary layoffs after offering early retirement and freezing positions.