One week after a major Quebec health-care provider was granted creditor protection, Global News has learned the clinic’s future is on the line.
Community members in Montreal’s West Island says if the Statcare clinic shuts down, the consequences could be dire.
The longstanding clinic’s owner, ELNA medical group, was granted creditor protection by a Quebec Superior Court last week and says the clinic is under review.
“There’s some scenarios that are contemplated. The first one is that the clinic could be transferred to the doctors that actually work there,” said Benoit Fontaine, an ELNA medical group insolvency trustee.
“The other scenario is that the doctors and their patients would be transferred to another closely-related ELNA clinic.”
Fontaine says it’s also possible that the clinic could be sold to a separate entity entirely. ELNA medical group received court approval last week to solicit interest in a potential sale.
It owes more than $100 million to creditors, and Fontaine says that Statcare and two other clinics are currently under review.
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“Those clinics are not profitable at this moment,” he said.
The Statcare clinic has been an institution in the community for more than 35 years, and provides minor emergency medical care 12 hours a day, seven days a week — serving nearly 20,000 patients a year.
In a statement to Global News on Tuesday, the West Island health authority said it hasn’t been notified of a closure, but insisted that, “Our teams are working to analyze the impacts that clinic closures could create on our territory.”
Pointe-Claire’s mayor, Tim Thomas, says if the Statcare clinic shuts down, West Island residents will lose an integral medical facility — and one of the last remaining walk-in style clinics in the area.
“It’s a disaster,” he said, adding he worries the move would put even more pressure on the Lakeshore General Hospital, located across the street from the clinic.
“We don’t have enough health-care services. I mean preventative. We’re trying to nip things in the bud, ideally is the way to go at it, and this is mitigating against that.”
Thomas and the community are hoping for some sort of resolution, but considering the company’s current financial state, many feel it will take a miracle to keep the clinic open.
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