The Nova Scotia NDP says the province is withholding important information related to the family doctor waitlist.
The province says the Need a Family Practice Registry was reduced from 95,875 on March 3rd to 93,682 in total on April 1. That’s a drop of 2,193 people.
But those statistics did not mention the 4,286 people added to the list during the same time period, according to a Freedom of Information Request obtained by the NDP.
Nova Scotia Health says the waitlist as of April 1 was the net change, which included the roughly 4,300 people who were added.
More people removed from list than initial numbers show
Although the province’s initial numbers only show a reduction in the total list of 2,193 people, the information obtained by the NDP shows that, in reality, 6,479 people were removed from the list from March 3 to April 1.
NDP leader Claudia Chender says the government isn’t showing the full picture.
“People are being added by the hundreds and sometimes by the 1000s to this list,” said Chender.
“Nova Scotians are […] hearing a story about improvements to health care, but they’re not actually experiencing that, and I think that’s what these numbers reveal.”
