Sask. to receive almost $62M from Ottawa to cut through surgical backlog

Saskatchewan is set to receive almost $62 million from the federal government to help clear its backlog of tens of thousands of surgeries.

Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos announced Friday that Ottawa will send another $2 billion to provinces and territories, to be distributed equally per capita. Saskatchewan's cut will be about $61.7 million.

Duclos also signalled that the federal government is willing to permanently increase the health transfer moving forward, a move that would answer aperennial demandby premiers, who want Ottawa's share of health-care spending to grow to35 per cent from the current 22per cent.

Saskatchewan's Health Minister Paul Merriman said he found out about the federal cash on Friday morning days after the province tabled its budget.

"So that gives us some money to free up to do some other initiatives that we can within the surgical capacity," Merriman told reporters on Monday.

"I need to be able to talk to the federal government to see if there's options to be able to purchase equipment, maybe gear up a couple other operating theatres in the smaller centres around the province."

He also said he will speak to provincial Finance Minister Donna Harpauer to see ifit's possible to move funds allocated for surgerytoother areas within thehealth-care system.

"No conditions are attached to this funding," wrote Marie-France Proulx, Duclos's press secretary.

"It will allow provinces and territories to reduce backlogs in surgeries, diagnosticsand related treatments, including better support for our health-care workers."

Speaking on background with CBC News, a federal official said there's no time limit on this money, meaning the Saskatchewan government can carry it forward to the next budget if it's not all spent in the coming fiscal year.

'More money doesn't necessarily mean wecan do more surgeries'

Merrimansaid he welcomes the one-time payment from the feds but cautioned, "if there's more money, that doesn't necessarily mean wecan do more surgeries."

Performing additional surgeries hingeson there being enoughsurgeons and support staff, Merriman said.

"I want to emphasize that we are not going to catch up on our surgical backlog in 12 months," he told reporters on Monday.

More than 35,000 people in Saskatchewan are on the wait-list for surgery, Merriman said, though he anticipates the truenumber is higher because of people who have not been able to see their general physicians or a specialist for consultation, and therefore haven't been logged into the system yet.

The federal government announced $4 billion in funding to clear backlogs last year. It said it's chipping in more now because the problem has only gotten worse since the onset of the Omicron wave of the pandemic.

In Saskatchewan's budget, released last week, the province said it will spend $21.6 million to perform an additional 7,000 surgeries over the next year.

The province is hoping to cut through its pandemic backlog by 2025 and get to a three-month surgical wait time by 2030.