Medical wait time

Re: “Medical Wait Time” Castanet Letter to the Editor of May 21st & subsequent “Wait for diagnosis too long to stomach” in May 24th edition of Okanagan Sunday.
 
I find it necessary to respond to comments made by Mr. John Cabral, Director of Health Services & Ambulatory Care at Interior Health, wherein he states, and I quote, “He suspects her referral is shorter than the 17 months she’s had to wait.” 
 
Just for the record, and I want to make it abundantly clear to all those reading this, that his so called “suspicions” are totally ill-founded,  and I take offence to the subtle insult to both myself and my doctor’s integrity. I wonder what kind of idiots he thinks he’s dealing with here.
 
All the dates reported were confirmed and verified PRIOR to sending off my letters to the Premier, the Minister of Health, the President & CEO of IH, and the Leader of the Official Opposition.  Yes, that’s right…the exact date of the 1st referral submitted to Interior Health was December 18, 2013, making the wait now in excess of 17 months!!!
 
Mr. Cabral also made the comment that he was unable to provide the average wait time for an elective case, but said it’s “less than a year.”  As a person of authority with IH, Mr. Cabral needs to be brought up to speed as to what is actually happening out there with respect to medical wait times.
 
All this just further justifies my statement in Sunday’s article, that by making these baseless comments he’s just ‘passing the buck’ to cover up for IH’s dropping of the ball.
 
Sharon Vermette
West Kelowna