Extra eye surgery contracts signed

Theprovincial governmenthas signed contracts with clinics in Calgary and Edmontonto perform1,400 additional cataract surgeries over the next several months in a bid to reduce waiting times for the procedures.

Deals forup to 120 more corneal transplants were also confirmed inThursday's announcement.

The surgeries will be performed between now and mid-October at a cost of about $2 million, Alberta Health Services (AHS) said in a release.

Funding for the extra procedures was announced on May 20.

"Adding surgical capacity in high-demand areas is a priority for AHS," said Stephen Duckett, AHS president and CEO.

The province awarded contracts to five non-hospital surgical facilities in Edmonton and six in Calgary to perform the additional procedures.

In February, AHS added about 900 more cataract surgeries to the 35,000 eye-related surgeries it funds annually. That announcement came one week after the provincial budget allotted a 16.6 per cent increase in health-care spending.

More money for eye procedures was again announced in March, allowing for a further 2,140 cataract surgeries.

But the province came under fire in April after it announced a consolidation of eye operations at four centres two in Calgary and two in Edmonton as a way to save money.

Facilities that were previously providing the operations complained they were given only three days notice that the province was switching to new providers.

The latest blitz will see 200 procedures done in at each of these facilities:

• Gimbel Eye Centre.
• Holy Cross Surgical Services.
• Mitchell Surgi-Centre.
• Rocky Mountain Surgery Centre and Surgical Centres Inc.

In Edmonton, 60 extra cataract procedures will be performed each of these facilities:

• Alberta Eye Centre Inc.
• Alberta Surgical Centre Inc.
• Eye Q Premium Laser.
• Gimbel Eye Surgical Centre.
• VisionMed.