Hospital MRIs Sit Idle Overnight as Province Funds Private Clinics: Report
The coalition says $280 million was redirected to private clinics while most new sites remain unopened and public hospitals have unused MRI capacity.
- On Sept 16, 2026, the Ontario Health Coalition released a report arguing that the Ford government's private clinic expansion has increased wait times and failed to improve access to care.
- Despite $155 million in funding for private MRI and endoscopy clinics and $125 million for orthopedic clinics, public hospitals leave equipment idle due to underfunding as the Ford government prioritized private contracts over existing facilities.
- A Canadian Medical Association study found cataract surgery rates rose 22 per cent for the highest economic bracket but fell 8.5 per cent for the lowest, while patients face bills up to $8,000 for upsold procedures.
- The report highlights that private clinics are located exclusively in the South and urban centres, ignoring northern and rural areas, which Mehra argues creates geographic inequities and fails to benefit the public.
- Five years after the Ford government announced privatization plans, Mehra asserts it is "irrefutable" that wait times have worsened, demanding the government answer concrete questions about why public capacity remains underutilized across Ontario.
11 Articles
11 Articles
SooToday.com
Hospital MRIs sit idle overnight as province funds private clinics: report
New report from Ontario Health Coalition lays out why private health clinics are 'not benefiting the public'
Waterloo Chronicle
Ford must answer for poor hospital privatization track record over last five years
TORONTO, Sept. 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In the Ford government’s most recent announcements alone, they redirected $155 million in public funds to private MRI, CT and endoscopy clinics and $125 million to private orthopedic clinics. In a new report…
RELEASE & REPORT: Ford must answer for poor hospital privatization track record over last five years: New report tracks town-by-town how the privatization scheme has created new inequalities, delays, higher costs and wasted local public hospitals’ resources - Ontario Health Coalition
(September 15, 2026) In the Ford government’s most recent announcements alone, they redirected $155 million in public funds to private MRI, CT and endoscopy clinics and $125 million to private orthopedic clinics. In a new report released today, advocates have tracked the specific impacts, town-by-town across Ontario, of the government’s choice to direct millions in […]
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