On top of being last in the country for surgical wait times on hips and knees, Saskatchewan is now also second in the country for people dying while on a surgical waitlist, according to a study conducted by an independent research institute.

Second Street.org uncovered that in the last fiscal year, 402 people have died while waitlisted for surgery in Saskatchewan. NDP Health Critic Vicki Mowat acknowledges that these people didn’t necessarily die because they needed a surgery, however she says 402 people dying is unacceptable in any regard.

“That doesn’t even include the number of people who died while waiting for a diagnostic test. That’s before the surgical wait test,” Mowat explains. She adds that this represents a 66 per cent increase in deaths since 2018 when Scott Moe was first elected Premier.

“Not only are we nearing the back of the pack, but we are trending in the opposite direction, “she stated. Saskatchewan’s results are double, or triple as bad as other provinces included in the study, excluding Nova Scotia, which had the most deaths at 532.

Mowat says we have the facilities we need to fix the healthcare crisis, but what we don’t have is the staff. She says if workers felt respected and valued, we wouldn’t have these service disruptions, and she encourages Premier Moe to get curious on why so many people are leaving the profession.

“If you can’t keep people around, if you can’t provide a working environment that they’re going to want to be a part of, that is a really big problem.”

She says the Moe government should also better utilize nurse practitioners, staff-up operating rooms, modernize the ambulance act, expand how often operating rooms are running, and work on recruiting and retaining across the province.

Rural and Remote Health critic Matt Love suggests that listening to local voices would hugely benefit the healthcare sector, as the root of the problem is a government that is unwilling to listen or be transparent.