Hospitals in One Canadian City Lose $1.2M on Foodservice

"The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has learned that hospitals in Saskatoon have lost $1.2 million over the past two years in their food services department.

'I don't think the average taxpayer has a problem subsidizing things like open heart surgery and medical procedures, but I think a lot of people would question why they are subsidizing the burger and fries down in the cafeteria,' said Colin Craig, with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF). CTF released freedom of information documents obtained from the Saskatoon Health Region (SHR) yesterday.

The group did not get data for the rest of the hospitals in the region or hospitals in Regina, but Craig speculated that this could be a trend province wide.

'Quite often hospitals have very high wage and benefit costs so it's uneconomical for them to try and run restaurants and cafeterias,' he said..."

Read the rest of the article from local news station CKOM 650 here...