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Orthopedic surgery has some of the longest waiting lists in medicine, with patients — often in debilitating pain — queuing for months or years to get their procedure.

But a select group of Canadians is enjoying service that could hardly be speedier: an operation within 10 days, sometimes guided by a personal “surgical co-ordinator.”

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or 'Preferential treatment': Injured workers getting fast-tracked surgery, sometimes within 10 days Back to video

Remarkably, the provider is not a rogue private clinic on the legal fringes of health care, but a group of public hospitals in Ontario that run a semi-private system within the public system, earning them and their surgeons a healthy premium.

Altum Health — part of Toronto’s University Health Network (UHN) — and three other public hospitals are doing the work for Ontario’s workers’ compensation system, which pays to get injured employees rapid treatment.

The Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Alberta compensation boards have also made similar arrangements with both private and public facilities, though the surgery their clients receive is not quite so expedited.