Four ambulances serving Monteregie shutting down due to funding cuts

FILE PHOTO -- Daniel J. Rowe / CTV News Montreal

Due to a lack of funding from the provincial government, four ambulances serving the Montérégie region will have to cease operations, representing 14 full-time positions.

The Coopérative des techniciens ambulanciers de la Montérégie (CETAM) denounces this measure, which will reduce ambulance coverage on the territory.

Ambulances in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Châteauguay and Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville will cease operations as of April 1, representing a cut of 16,000 hours of service per year.

In a press release, CETAM indicates that "the needs are greater than ever, that the teams are mobilized to their full capacity and that they are struggling to meet the very high demand."

The CETAM had called in 2019 for up to seven additional ambulances to adequately serve the territory. Two years later, the CISSS de la Montérégie-Centre and Montérégie-Ouest authorized the addition of three ambulances from their budgets.

In 2022, the CISSS de la Montérégie-Centre added one more ambulance, again from its budget, bringing the total number of new vehicles to four. This year, CISSS indicated that it is no longer able to fund these four ambulances due to a lack of financial capacity.

"We are dismayed to see such a decline in ambulance coverage in certain territories of the Montérégie, following a government decision. The demands of citizens in emergency situations are increasing, the vehicles are available, the teams are mobilized, so nothing can explain why they want to cut an existing service that is so important in the cities concerned," said in a press release the general manager of the CETAM, Martin Benoit.

Benoit hopes that Health Minister Christian Dubé and Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant, both elected officials from the Montérégie region, will be sensitive to the situation and that they will hear the urgent request launched by CETAM.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Feb. 202, 2023.