Vitalité expands use of private care with another cataract surgery clinic in Edmundston
Vitalité Health Network is expanding its use of private health care to tackle long waits for cataract surgery in the public system in northwestern New Brunswick.
It has a new partnership with an ophthalmology clinic in Edmundston that's expected to triple the number of surgeries performed each week, said Dr. Natalie Banville, senior vice-president of client programs, intrahospital services and medical affairs.
About 1,300 patients are currently waiting for cataract surgery at the Edmundston Regional Hospital, she said. More than 100 of them have been waiting more than a year.
But that should all change starting July 8 when Dr. Nadia Lihimdi and Dr. Aissa Iggui start using the two new operating theatres they built at their Edmundston Medical and Surgical Eye Center, said Banville.
"We're hoping to see a fast decrease of the wait time, like we saw in the Bathurst area," where Vitalité opened New Brunswick's first private cataract surgery clinic in the fall of 2022, she said.
Bathurst clinic a success
A total of 1,465 patients were waiting for surgery at the Chaleur Regional Hospital in September 2022, according to a quarterly report released this week. Of those, roughly 300 had waited more than a year.
"Within six months we had no more long-waiters, and now the wait list it's almost none," said Banville — 248, as of May, according to the report.
"It's a total of six to eight weeks maximum to have a cataract surgery in Bathurst," she said.
"And we think that within a year, it's going to be the same thing in Edmundston."
Privately delivered public care, says official
Up until the fall of 2022, cataract surgeries could not be performed outside of hospitals, but the Higgs government changed the provincial legislation, allowing Vitalité to partner with the Acadie-Bathurst Ophthalmology Centre.
It sparked a political debate about how much private health care New Brunswick should tolerate and about the government's refusal to pay for surgical abortions performed in clinics.
Banville contends the controversy is a misunderstanding.
"People were thinking it was a private [service]. The patients don't pay anything, it's still a public service," she said.
The health authority still controls the waitlist and determines which patients get priority.
It also maintains oversight of quality of care, she said.
Vitalité is working on another clinic for cataract surgeries in Moncton, said Banville. This will be a joint effort with Horizon, but will be under the governance of Vitalité.
That clinic is under construction and is expected to open within six months, she said.
Horizon officials did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment.
