The provincial government will be sending people to Alberta to get private surgeries, but they won’t be paying for the travel.
Health minister Paul Merriman said they will be paying a clinic in Calgary to perform 20 knee and hip surgeries per month for those on the province’s surgical wait list.
Merriman says sending patients for privatized care out of province will result in patients having their surgeries done faster.

He says if a patient has the option to go to Calgary, they will have to pay for the travel.

Earlier this week, the province issued a request for proposal for third party surgical providers.

“To successfully tackle the waitlist for orthopedic surgeries, including hip and knee replacements, it’s essential to work with our third-party providers,” Minister of Health Paul Merriman said in a media reelase. “Saskatchewan has forged very successful relationships with third parties for several years to provide publicly-funded, privately-delivered surgeries, which serve to add capacity for the system.”

The submission deadline for those tenders is Sept. 12.

The NDP Opposition said the government is creating a two-tier health system that prioritizes people with more income.

–With Files from The Canadian Press—