Ontario hospitals owed private banks $70 million last year — and one wasn't sure it could even keep operating - National Post
Strathroy Middlesex General hospital worried about its ability to operate, citing an accumulated deficit of over $24 million and an increased use of credit lines. PostmediaArticle contentOntario hospitals, forced to borrow privately in order to keep the lights on, owed banks more than $70 million in operating loans by the end of fiscal year 2025-26, according to hospital financial statements.
With 80 of the 129 Ontario hospital networks posting operating deficits last year, at least $1.45 million in public health-care dollars went to bank interest payments from just eight hospital networks, the Investigative Journalism Bureau found.
Niagara Health, for instance, paid about $549,000 in interest on operating loans, said the organization’s spokesperson, Erica Bajer. The Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance in southwestern Ontario paid $346,000 in interest on its operating borrowings, according to spokesperson Gerry Rucchin. CEO Andrew Williams said the institution continues “to focus on minimizing debt servicing costs wherever possible” while focusing on patient care.
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Strathroy Middlesex Hospital, west of London, Ont., expressed concern in its financial statement about its ability to even continue operating.
And 12 Ontario hospital networks, including Scarborough Health Network, North York General Hospital and The Ottawa Hospital collectively increased their borrowing capacity from the previous year by close to $460 million, according to financial statements.
“The only way for them (hospitals) to survive is to borrow money … That’s totally unsustainable,” said Michel Grignon, a health economist at McMaster University in Hamilton. “It doesn’t make any sense that taxpayers would simply line the pockets of banks, that’s absolutely not the way it was supposed to work.”
The need to increase borrowing capacity last year is a “sign hospitals have been cut to the bone,” he said.
