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Writer's pictureKenyon Wallace

Poorest Ontarians are less likely to access cataract surgeries

Aug. 26, 2024

As more cataract surgeries move to private clinics, more low-income Ontarians are being left behind, study finds


Canadian Medical Association Journal finds poorest Ontarians are less likely to access cataract surgeries in the province’s private, for-profit surgical centres.


Study lead author Dr. Robert Campbell and colleagues found that after the onset of COVID, the proportion of cataract procedures in private clinics rose by 50 per cent. “That’s definitely a large jump.”

Low-income Ontarians were less likely to access cataract surgeries in private, for-profit clinics, even as the province increased funding for the procedures in these independent surgical centres, according to new research.


A study published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) finds that while public funding of facility overhead costs for cataract operations performed in private, for-profit clinics increased during a year-and-a-half period after the onset of COVID-19, the rates of surgeries in these clinics fell nine per cent for Ontario’s poorest patients. At the same time, rates rose 22 per cent for province’s wealthiest patients, relative to what was expected based on pre-pandemic trends. 



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