Sexual health clinics to close in BC
Five B.C. health clinics to close
by The Canadian Press - Story: 68665
Dec 17, 2011 / 4:41 pm
Nurses in the B.C. Interior are warning the impending closure of five public health clinics will hurt the poor.
The five clinics test and treat sexually transmitted infections and are set to close at the end of the month.
Debra McPherson, president of the B.C. nurses union, says the decision was made at a time when sex infections are rising in the province and believes the cuts will amount to costs elsewhere in the health care system.
The nurses fear that among the repercussions, women with no family doctor who used the clinics for Pap tests and pelvic exams may go uncared for, while people with infections will ignore symptoms and spread disease to others.
Each of the clinics serves hundreds of people each year, although people will be able to ask for the services from family doctors or other walk-in clinics.
The clinics are located in Kamloops, Kelowna, Penticton, Grand Forks and Cranbrook.
Source http://www.castanet.net/news/BC/68665/Five-B-C-health-clinics-to-close
My mother was talking to me about this earlier, and I can't even articulate how angry this makes me. This is going to hurt the poor (who don't have a family doctor) sex workers, and teens (who won't go and talk to a family doctor, if they have one).
So much hate toward the BC liberals right now.