Eastern Townships healthcare centres get $35 million

Healthcare in the Eastern Townships got a big boost on Thursday with the announcement of $34,883,300 in new, annual funding for the services of the CIUSSS de L’Estrie – CHUS, the regional healthcare institution. The announcement was made by Sherbrooke MNA and Minister responsible for the Estrie region, Luc Fortin, on behalf of Health Minister Gaetan Barrette and in the company of CIUSSS de L’Estrie – CHUS General Manager Patricia Gauthier. “These are funds dedicated to putting an end to regional inequities in the funding of health and social services,” Fortin said “this is a debate that has been going on for more than twenty years and today we are putting an end to it.” Fortin explained that a funding formula put in place 30 years ago that was only ever indexed for inflation and didn’t take into account population changes over that time left several regions of the province at a financial disadvantage when it came to health and social services. This past March, as a solution to that problem, a sum of $300 million was set aside to improve service and access across these underfunded regions. That overall amount was then divided between regions based on a formula that takes into account population, service needs, and regional characteristics like population age and known health concerns. See full story in the Friday, April 20th edition of The Record.