Dear Editor:
Re: We absolutely need a new hospital, Burnaby NOW, Dec. 5.
NDP MLA Kathy Corrigan and the NDP's health critic, Mike Farnsworth, have been quick to dismiss the recently released report by the Burnaby Hospital community consultation committee. It is regrettable and more than a bit biased.
Not only have Ms. Corrigan and Mr. Farnsworth claimed much of what is in the report has been known for years, Ms. Corrigan also states the hospital was in "dire shape" and "seismically fragile" 11 years ago. Well if that was the case, then 11 years ago would place this dire state of decay at the end of the NDP's decade in power in the 1990s.
As a citizen of Burnaby served by Burnaby Hospital, I would really like to know how this shameful inequity has been allowed to persist for so long? Why has Burnaby Hospital been treated like a poor cousin in Fraser Health's budgeting?
Hopefully something will now be done to fix this situation so that Burnaby Hospital will be treated fairly and placed on an equal footing resource-wise with other Fraser Health hospitals. Overall, the committee deserves thanks, not derision, for successfully raising the profile of issues at Burnaby Hospital. And all those who bravely spoke out about the situation at the hospital also deserve to be thanked.
Randy Rinaldo, Burnaby
