HEALTH BUDGET UPSETS NEEDLE EXCHANGE NEIGHBOUR

Mentally Ill Neglected As Money Flows To Sell Carbon Tax, Lawyer Says

Victoria lawyer Stewart Johnston, who sees the grim reality of
homelessness, mental illness and drug addiction daily in Victoria, is
concerned the local health region will receive only half the funding
increase it says it needs.

"It's more than a little disturbing," said Johnston, whose downtown
law office is near the AIDS Vancouver Island needle exchange, where
addicts spill out onto the street.

"I see so much neglect of people with mental illness on the street,
and yet B.C.'s surplus is being redistributed to people to sell the
carbon tax," Johnston said.

The B.C. Health Ministry got a $2.9-billion increase over three years
in this week's budget, with $1.9 billion allocated to the province's
six health authorities, including the Vancouver Island Health Authority.

Individual funding amounts for the health regions were less than
requested or received the previous year.

VIHA will see a 4.8 per cent increase in the 2008 fiscal year, 6.9 per
cent in 2009, and 5.3 per cent in 2010, according to the health ministry.

VIHA and three other health authorities had asked for between 8.1 and
8.6 per cent. VIHA expected at the very least the same 6.1 per cent
increase it received last year just to maintain services.

That worries Johnston because, as one example, AIDS Vancouver Island
has requested more money to move the needle exchange from Cormorant
Street to a bigger building with more amenities before it's evicted
this summer.

"It's unfortunate the government has missed the opportunity to use
that surplus money for something that is so important to our inner
cities like East Vancouver and Victoria that are really suffering from
a lack of treatment for people with mental illness and drug
addictions."

"Certainly these numbers are challenging, there's no question," VIHA
president Howard Waldner said yesterday.

NDP Opposition health critic Adrian Dix said the funding amount is
serious for a region grappling with increasing demands from a growing
and aging population.

"The government is saying VIHA deserves less than last year, less than
the provincial average and about half than what it said it needed and
that means cuts in services for people," Dix said.

Waldner is hopeful that the total health-care budget, which has other
new funding -- such as the $300 million Transformation Fund, to help
streamline technology, purchasing and information and service delivery
- -- will provide additional dollars to prop up its base budget.
One-time funding announcements are also anticipated.

"Without the full understanding of what is in these other funding
pockets and how they will be applied, it's very difficult to see what
the bottom line actually is at this point in time," Waldner said.

VIHA's base operating budget will increase to $1.2 billion this fiscal
year, $1.3 billion in 2009 and $1.4 billion in 2011. VIHA's current
budget is $1.4 billion but includes other funding sources.