A house fire in a small New Brunswick town has sparked a debate about how healthcare resources are being used in the province.
Two residents suffered burns as they removed a smoldering couch from the McAdam home and tried to extinguish the flames with snow.
But instead of being treated at a local health centre half a kilometre away, they had to wait for an ambulance to shuttle them to Fredericton. They say the ambulance arrived quickly, but then they were forced to wait, despite a request from the town's mayor that the injured residents be taken to the local health centre.
"There was a doctor, there was staff and these patients should have been taken to that location," said Mayor Frank Carroll, who also serves as a volunteer firefighter.
Carroll was among those who responded to the fire Monday morning and he said the injured residents were forced to wait for other ambulances to arrive so they could be taken to a full-service hospital in Fredericton.
He said the incident indicates a misuse of dwindling healthcare resources in rural New Brunswick.
"I don't care how many ambulances you want to bring in and transport, that's great," said Carroll. "In the meantime, use the services to the best ability we can. To bypass a doctor available in this community and healthcare services this close, with multiple patients, is unacceptable."
Carroll said the injuries should have been treated locally but Ambulance New Brunswick couldn't take them to the nearby health centre.
The organization said in an email to CTV News that its policy dictates they only transport patients to the nearest destination hospital and that the Department of Health decides which facilities are classified as a destination hospital.
However, Carroll said that policy could lead to a tragedy.
"This is our first...and there'll likely be more, unless we put a policy in that uses best judgment to use the services the best way we can," he said.
He also acknowledged not all injuries could be properly treated at the local health centre, but said those that could, should.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Andy Campbell
