Tough times ahead: health minister Jim Reiter

It’s an early Christmas present the government wasn’t hoping for, a billion dollar deficit.

Health minister Jim Reiter, who’s been tasked with cutting $64 million from the health care budget, said it’ll be tough to find savings but he won’t do it at the expense of patient care. 

“That’s why we’re looking at what the appropriate number of health regions should be and what the appropriate governance structure should be,” he said. “We want to make sure every dollar go towards front line care, instead of administration.”

Mike Stensrud, chair of the Saskatoon Health Region, said over the last seven years they’ve saved two per cent each year from their budget.