Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson is making the push to keep the sleep lab open at Timmins and District Hospital.

He says the decision was made to cut the program so TDH could get closer to breaking even on their budget.

The hospital is having trouble balancing and is $1-million dollars short at the moment. The sleep lab is costing the hospital $160-thousand dollars a year.

“Unfortunately, OHIP is not covering some of the stuff that they used to cover before, so (TDH is) having to absorb $160-thousand dollars a year to run the sleep lab,” Bisson said at Queen’s Park back on November 1st.

So now with the shut down, local patients would be sent to Sudbury. And that opens up the argument on both the cost and safety for patients.

The province, according to Bisson, would have to pay out around $1-million dollars in Northern Travel Grants to get them there.

“We’re going to spend a million bucks to save $160,000,” Bisson informed the Legislature.

Talking with reporters Thursday morning, Bisson adds the safety issue is just as important to point out.

“We’re going to put (sleep lab patients) on Northern highways in the middle of winter the next day after they haven’t slept to well because you go to a sleep lab, you don’t sleep too well, having probes and all that on you,” he said, “They’re going to have to drive back to their home communities.”

“So we’re putting people at risk.”

Bisson is calling on the province to provide the dollars to OHIP so the sleep lab is revenue-neutral and can stay open. He says the Minister seems open to looking at it.

Bisson adds TDH has met with the Northeast LHIN and is hoping to get a better grasp at the situation next week.

Filed under: Local News