Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday announced a pilot project at 16 pediatric hospitals to track the wait times for children's surgeries and eventually lead to a guaranteed wait time, the CanWest News Service reports.
The 15-month, about $2.2 million project will establish a national database of surgery wait times and will focus on cardiac, neurology, sight, spinal deformity and dental treatments that require anesthesia.
"The next stage of the project will be to develop a treatment plan for children facing unacceptable wait times," Harper said.
The Canadian federal government is supporting the project, which stemmed from the network of pediatric hospitals, Harper added (Fitzpatrick, CanWest News Service, 1/11).