The system at work

It may not be the most dramatic news today, but word comes out that Saskatchewan's new investments in health care are still paying off:

Surgeons in the province are reducing the backlog of patients waiting for operations.

Government figures show the number of people on lists in the province's seven largest health regions dropped by more than 3,200.

As of the end of June, more than 29,000 people were on waiting lists in the seven regions.

Health officials say that half of all surgical patients wait less than five weeks for their procedure, while 80 per cent are looked after within six months.

While the remaining list obviously leaves room for improvement, there's all the more reason to believe that the public system can do just fine in taking care of all of its patients. That is, as long as it receives enough funding to do the job.