ALBERTA HOSPITAL TRIES TO BOOST REVENUE BY ATTRACTING GASTROPLASTY PATIENTS FROM US

The fate of a surgical weight-reduction program at the 25-bed hospital in Cardston, Alta., is in limbo as Alberta9s Conservative government decides whether it will allow the hospital to keep profits made by performing gastroplasty on American patients last year. Cardston Municipal Hospital, which has had more than 1200 Canadian banded-gastroplasty patients since 1979, began recruiting American patients from Montana and Idaho last year. However, rumours that the Klein government will reduce the regional health authority9s operating budget by an amount equal to the hospital9s profit have jeopardized the program9s future. The hospital first marketed the program in the US to cushion short-falls in government funding.