Dear Editor,

Can someone explain to me how it is any advantage to anyone for the government to underfund the local hospital? Few people . . .

ever want to go to hospital, but when they do, it’s better if they can do as much of it as they can locally, where friends can visit, and the ill or injured can feel near to home. The ongoing attrition program seems set to eliminate this hospital, department by department, in favour of everyone commuting to Hull or Gatineau for all medical needs.

I’m not a fan of remote-control bureaucracy, but it seems I’m living in the wrong province, in that regard. I just wonder what savings the government is achieving by diminishing the nursing staff at this hospital.

My son and several other children of friends were born in this local hospital. It’s a good idea to localize the beginning and end of life. But if the government is bent on taking down the local facility, life may have to take a different direction.

My sister-in-law delivered four children at home. They all grew and thrived and now have children of their own. Maybe it’s time to re-develop midwifery, to reclaim that part of life which used to belong to the home community.

Robert Wills

Shawville and Thorne, Que.