In Vancouver, BC private clinic opens despite warnings. Vancouver’s False Creek Urgent Care Centre promises to work within public health system of Canada. The False Creek Urgent Care Centre was founded by Dr. Mark Godley, medical director of the False Creek Surgical Centre.
British Columbia’s health minister George Abbott says the agreement reached Friday night will allow the False Creek Urgent Care Centre in Vancouver to continue to treat emergency cases without charging fees directly to patients for necessary procedures.
Abbott said it looked like a blatant contravention of the Canada Health Act, which prohibits charging fees for medically necessary procedures.
“We were very concerned with the fees that were proposed in the earlier model, and I’m glad that we have worked through now to something which I hope can make this new centre an asset to the health-care system.”
Now, Abbott says patients will present a health-care card when they visit the False Creek Centre and taxpayers will foot the bill.
Vancouver’s False Creek Surgical Centre has started its operation offerring emergency care, Canada’s first private emergency-care facility, in addition to the private day surgeries it already performs on a for-fee basis.
The clinic would have been the first of its kind in Canada to offer high-tech treatment to patients willing to pay.