The Alberta NDP will bring back X-ray services to Morinville if it wins the upcoming provincial election, says a local candidate.
Karen Shaw, the Alberta NDP candidate for Morinville-St. Albert, sent out a media release March 14 saying that the Alberta NDP would restore X-ray services to the Morinville Clinic should it win this year’s provincial election.
Morinville residents reached by The Gazette said that X-rays were available at the clinic prior to February 2020 but not thereafter, as that was the month when the clinic’s X-ray machine broke.
The machine has yet to be repaired despite repeated requests from Morinville town council. The nearest functioning X-ray machine to Morinville is in St. Albert.
In January 2022, Grady Semmens of Alberta Precision Laboratories (which runs many of the province’s medical labs) said the Morinville machine was too expensive to replace and so old that they could no longer get parts to repair it.
Shaw said Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley first committed to fix the Morinville X-ray machine during a speech to the St. Albert and District Chamber of Commerce March 8, 2023, during which she also committed to helping to fund servicing of St. Albert’s Lakeview Business District.
“Morinville is a town of over 10,000 people. This type of service should be available,” Shaw said.
“The Alberta NDP will end the chaos in health care by investing in public health care.”
Shaw said health care was a top priority for Albertans, and Morinville residents were upset this service was not available in their community. The machine would cost up to $700,000 to repair.
In an email, Jared Gustafson, press secretary for Morinville-St. Albert MLA Dale Nally, said Nally had been very clear in his commitment to putting an X-ray machine back in Morinville and was working closely with Health Minister Jason Copping to make that happen.
In an email, Morinville Mayor Simon Boersma said his community welcomed any support it could get to restore its X-ray services.
“Morinville deserves this service. There is also tremendous regional support from other communities for the X-ray machine, as it benefits their residents too.”
The provincial election is slated for May 29, 2023.
