Article content

The Quebec government is faulting the McGill University Health Centre for taking on too many cancer and emergency-room patients, and is refusing to fund the MUHC for what it calls “volume overruns,” the Montreal Gazette has learned.

The MUHC, as a result, is facing a shortfall of more than $10 million, in addition to the $28.1-million budget cut it must implement in the 2016-2017 fiscal year, a highly placed source said.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Government accuses MUHC of treating too many patients: source Back to video

The Health Department is demanding MUHC doctors refer oncology and ER patients to other hospitals in the Montreal region, but those institutions are also grappling with government-imposed budget cuts. The cuts have occurred even as the government reported a $2.2-billion surplus last week, well above the $1.4-billion figure it forecast in the summer.

Emergency-room admissions at the MUHC superhospital have soared by 30 per cent since it opened in April 2015, yet the government is balking at increasing its funding and is holding the hospital network to patient volumes cited in a 2007 clinical plan, the source said.