Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital: Patients from across Quebec call for rebuild
Patients from across Quebec are calling on Premier François Legault to start rebuilding Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital as soon as possible.
In an open letter obtained by The Canadian Press, the 45 or so signatories appealed to the premier's sense of responsibility, saying they are launching a 'national cry from the heart.'
'As you know, Maisonneuve-Rosemont is not just another hospital,' they state. 'Every year, thousands of Quebecers are treated there: premature babies from the Eastern Townships, cancer patients from the Laurentians, transplant recipients from Abitibi.
'We are these patients, these families, these survivors. (...) We have hoped, we have cried, we have healed within these tired but miracle-bearing walls.'
If Legault postpones renovations on the building, he will go down in history as the man who 'mortgaged the health, not of a neighbourhood, but of a people,' according to the letter.
'You have the power to avert this predicted disaster,' they wrote to the premier.
'If nothing changes, this abandonment will be the reason you deplete in the hearts of Quebecers: not as a builder, but as the person who let down a jewel in the crown of our health care system,' they wrote.
The signatories insist that they are not seeking to 'accuse,' but to point out that they are 'from Mauricie, the Laurentians, Lanaudière, the Eastern Townships and other regions of Quebec.'
They are asking the premier to recognize that rebuilding Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital is not a 'local' request, but a 'national' priority.
The hospital has been in the headlines for months now due to its alarming state of disrepair.
Last Tuesday, high winds caused a major power cut and broken windows.
The Legault government has been promising major renovation work at the hospital for years, but has since reneged on its promise, citing the budget situation and needs elsewhere.
Under pressure, the premier said last week that he would try to find $85 million to start the first phase of the project, namely the construction of a car park.
The subject is likely to come up again during the study of the Minister of Health's budgetary appropriations, which are slated to take place in the presence of Health Minister Christian Dubé on Tuesday in the National Assembly.
The opposition parties and the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital coalition have invited the media to a joint press conference to provide an update on the situation early on Tuesday morning.
– This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 6, 2024.
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