Cost of Ottawa H1N1 clinics could top $4M: councillor
City unsure what portion of vaccination costs will be covered by province
Last Updated: Friday, October 30, 2009 | 7:06 AM ET
CBC News
An Ottawa councillor said Thursday the cost of the swine flu vaccination clinics in the city could top $4 million, and she's not sure how much of the cost will be covered by the province.
The clinics have already run up extra costs in staffing and renting tents and heaters to keep people warm while they wait in the long lineups.
Coun. Diane Deans said Thursday the $4-million estimate is based on 40 per cent of residents getting the shots. However, she said those numbers could increase in light of the high turnout at the clinics this week.
On Thursday, many clinics had to close early because they couldn't handle the long lineups.
By mid afternoon, the city reported that the swine flu clinics at the Walter Baker Centre, the Tom Brown Centre, Fred G. Barrett Arena, Centrum Orleans, and the clinic at the Kanata Recreation Centre were no longer accepting people for H1N1 vaccinations, except for health-care workers.
"What we're seeing in the early days is a rush on the clinics, and we don't know yet whether that's going to translate into a greater percentage of the population lining up for the vaccine and thus higher costs," Deans said.
The city of Ottawa, like most levels of government, is cash-strapped, and heading into tough budget talks because of a series of financial problems it faces including:
- Fixing west-end sewers.
- Controlling spillage into the Ottawa River.
- Dealing with a $37-million legal settlement after the light-rail project was cancelled.
- Paying for the new green bin program.
- Absorbing a 2.5 per cent increase in labour costs.
Deans said the province has agreed to pay all "reasonable" costs for the vaccination clinics.
But given that Ontario is facing a $25-billion deficit, the province may have its own definition of what is reasonable, she said.
Ottawa hospitals also hope the provincial health ministry will pick up the extra costs, especially for staffing and overtime costs for treating swine flu.
Thomas Hayes, head of the Hospital Emergency Preparedness Committee, said the province did pay for some of initial up-front costs.
"They have already paid for half of stockpiling — gloves, masks, respirators, syringes, needles, IV bags — and they have advised us to continue keeping track of the costs associated with our response, and then we'll have a discussion," Hayes said.
