{"id":9230,"date":"2020-02-06T12:04:59","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T17:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=9230"},"modified":"2020-04-19T15:30:18","modified_gmt":"2020-04-19T19:30:18","slug":"transplant-unit-another-lhsc-program-eroded-by-cuts-departures-veteran-doctor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/transplant-unit-another-lhsc-program-eroded-by-cuts-departures-veteran-doctor\/","title":{"rendered":"Transplant unit another LHSC program eroded by cuts, departures: Veteran doctor"},"content":{"rendered":"

(February 5, 2020)<\/p>\n

By: Norman De Bono, The London News Press<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Another high-profile London doctor is sounding off about budget cuts at the London Health Sciences Centre, this time involving its organ transplant program, saying he quit his job because \u201cI was tired of banging my head against the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0 program\u2019s budget has eroded and about a half-dozen, high-level people have left, said Paul Marotta, who recently quit as the medical director of liver transplantation, adding he\u2019s concerned about LHSC\u2019s ability to recruit replacements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a threat, an immediate threat,\u201d said Marotta. \u201cWe are losing people with 20 to 30 years\u2019 experience, and there is not a real strategy to recruit. The deficit grows, cuts are happening. It is difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

But LHSC\u2019s chief medical officer insists that while the hospital has lost doctors, it has been actively recruiting and the quality of care the hospital delivers remains high.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not concerned about the status of our transplant (program),\u201d said Adam Dukelow, adding the care is \u201chigh quality every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

LHSC last fall lost its top heart doctor, Bob Kiaii, who left for a job in California, charging that LHSC no longer considers cardiac care a top priority as it makes cuts to reduce its budget shortfall.<\/p>\n

Marotta, who has gone part-time, said he stepped down from his position frustrated by continuing cuts to budgets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is why I left administration . . . I left my position because I was tired of banging my head against a wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

His concern, he said, is the future of the multi-organ transplant program, which has been a source of pride for LHSC.<\/p>\n

In an email, Marotta said he couldn\u2019t be specific about program cuts but that its budget is based on LHSC\u2019s budget. When that\u2019s in a shortfall, cuts occur and the program hasn\u2019t been good at either asking for or getting money, he said.<\/p>\n

Besides Kiaii, the former director of cardiac care and a transplant surgeon, Marotta points to the following high-level departures from the hospital:<\/p>\n