Newfoundland and Labrador Health Minister, Jerome Kennedy, in the central Newfoundland community of Lewisporte, Oct. 14. (CBC)Newfoundland and Labrador Health Minister, Jerome Kennedy, in the central Newfoundland community of Lewisporte, Oct. 14. (CBC)

Newfoundland and Labrador Health Minister Jerome Kennedy says he may cancel a provincewide review of laboratory and X-ray services.

The new minister has already put on hold controversial service cuts in two Newfoundland communities, Lewisporte and Flower's Cove.

Now Kennedy says he will meet with his officials to see if a larger provincewide review of lab and X-ray services that was announced this past summer is necessary at all.

"So at this stage I can't tell you that the review is finished. It's still on. But it's something I will be reviewing in a period of the next week or so," Kennedy said Wednesday. "[We're] reviewing whether or not the review is even necessary at this point."

On Aug. 29, the government announced that X-ray and lab services provided in Lewisporte would be moved to Grand Falls-Windsor, about 70 kilometres away, and to Gander, about 60 kilometres away.

Sparked protests

At that time, the province also announced it would cut operating hours at the community clinic in Flower's Cove, on the Northern Peninsula, to 12 hours a day from 24 and eliminate lab and X-ray services.

The announced cuts sparked large protests in both communities, but the health minister at the time, Paul Oram, said the government was standing firm.

"The decisions in Flower's Cove and Lewisporte are final decisions," Oram said then. "They won't be changed."

But Oram resigned from provincial politics Oct. 7, citing personal health reasons and concerns about how the media were covering his handling of the health-care portfolio. Later that day, Kennedy was sworn in as the province's new health minister.

That evening, Kennedy and Premier Danny Williams flew to the Northern Peninsula to meet with community leaders in Flower's Cove. Kennedy told them the proposed cuts may be avoidable if other health-care savings can be found in the area.

A week later, this Wednesday, Lewisporte Mayor Brian Peckford met with Kennedy.

Peckford said he was told the province will be able save lab and X-ray services in Lewisporte if it can find some health-care savings. Peckford said the money will probably have to come from the proposed redevelopment of North Haven Manor in Lewisporte, a long-term care facility that's scheduled to receive a $32-million upgrade.

Speaking with CBC News, Kennedy went even further.

"I'm hopeful that we will reach a resolution and then at that point the X-ray review may not be necessary. So, we are going to play it by ear right now and really see where we go with Lewisporte and Flower's Cove."