The number of Ontarians heading south of the border for medical care is growing.

New figures from the Ontario Ministry of Health show that the province's spending on out-of-Canada medical services has tripled in the last five years.

Last year, more than 12,000 Ontarians applied to OHIP for pre-approval of U.S. treatment, including cancer and cardiac care.

That figure is up from 5,800 applications in 2005.

The number of out-of-country procedures OHIP has agreed to pay for has also ballooned to five times the number it was in 2001.

The province agreed to fund 2,110 procedures or treatments in 2001, compared to 11,775 last year.

The ministry said genetic testing accounted for 53 per cent of those applications.

The figures are expected to rise, the ministry said.

OHIP payments are budgeted to increase to $164.3 million in 2010, from $56.3 million in 2005.

Patients are losing

The figures drew heat from NDP Leader Andrea Horwath during morning question period at Queen's Park.

"Patients are losing access to local care as the McGuinty government shells out more money to private American providers," Horwath said.

"Rather than sending more and more Ontarians out of country for medical basics, like MRIs and CT scans, why isn't this government investing more money to improve services for a greater number of Ontarians right here at home."

Horwath said that the money should be used to fund those services at Ontario facilities, which are facing cutbacks that are forcing emergency rooms to close and nurses to be laid off.

Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews said the bulk of the procedures conducted outside Canada are complex ones that are not available in Ontario.

Matthews said the government is focused on bringing the number of visits back down after a reported 450 per cent increase over the past decade.

Regarding genetic testing, which can help determine whether someone will respond to a particular treatment, Matthews says Ontario plans to be doing its own by next spring.

With from The Canadian Press