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Members of the Grand Falls Community Health Committee are demanding that the necessary steps required to hire a full-time surgeon and an anesthetist for the General Hospital be undertaken immediately by the Department of Health.

The committee voiced its concerns in a recent letter to the NB Health Minister, Michael Murphy, as well as area MLA and Minister of Agriculture and Aquaculture, Ronald Ouellette and Dr. Michel Nowlan, head of the General Hospital's doctors group.

"With the particular status reserved for our hospital in the new provincial health plan, we believe that the procrastination in the hiring process must end immediately," stated Committee President Riette Godbout-Roy in her letter dated April 22. "This critical situation requires that the steps needed to hire these individuals must begin at once," she added.

The committee has also voiced its concerns related to the delay in the architectural planning aimed at designing a new surgical unit and central sterilization facility for the General Hospital.

"Last December, Health Minister Michael Murphy announced that $400,000 had been allocated in his department's 2008-2009 capital budget towards this project as well as an additional $4 million investment for 2009-2010 toward construction work on the new services for the hospital's second floor," Godbout-Roy said.

"Regrettably, the committee is very worried by the delay in conceptualizing these plans. It is for this reason that we have asked to meet with the persons responsible for their development to see if these plans and estimates meet the healthcare needs and objectives of our community in accordance with the medical staff of our hospital," she added. The committee's letter also pointed out its concerns pertaining to the administration of the General Hospital when the Region A Health Authority takes over in September.

"What will be the administrative structure of hospital under the new Health Authority's umbrella? How would the Community Health Committee play a role in the set-up of the new structure for the General Hospital? These are some of the issues we would like answers to," stated Godbout-Roy.

"The committee believes these are justifiable questions which deserve immediate answers on behalf of those responsible in order to assure a calm and peaceful transition," she added.

"When he was last in Grand Falls, Murphy told the people that the General Hospital had a good future. He did not however specify what its role would be," stated Restigouche-La-Vallée MLA Percy Mockler on the issue of the local hospital.

"The loss of the former Region 4 Health Authority means that decisions will be taken by Fredericton and the Health Minister," he added. "I call these ‘remote control' services."

"The priorities in regards to the general hospital included the completion of renovations to its labs and modernization of its medical imaging facilities," Mockler said.

"It is unacceptable that the health minister is not keeping his promise after he told the people of Grand Falls to put their confidence in him and that everything would be taken care of. He has misled the citizens of Grand Falls and surrounding communities who depend on their hospital," Mockler stated. "He is acting like a dictator. Our communities will no longer have a word to say pertaining to how their hospital is administered."