Huron Perth Public Health has had to make the decision to cut some jobs and restructure programs in 2024 due to a budget shortfall.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Miriam Klassen spoke on Wednesday saying the cutback on jobs will be seen in the form of retirements, layoffs and ending temporary staff contracts.
Klassen says this hasn’t been an easy decision to make and public health made efforts to avoid it in conversation with various provincial partners.
“Public health is primarily human resources so there is limited savings we can find but we did what we could and certainly we’ve been communicating with the Ministry of Health, AMO, the government about the value of public health and the budget” Klassen.
Public health made the moves to address a $1.5 million funding gap accumulated over the last five years.
