Health care workers and supporters rally for better funding in Sapperton Park, across the Royal Columbian Hospital, on Tuesday.

image credit: MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER

A couple dozen health care workers and their supporters sacrificed their lunch hour on Tuesday to rally in Sapperton Park against funding cuts.

Their rumbling bellies likely werent lost on their colleagues toiling in Royal Columbian Hospital across the street.

The rally was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the expiration in 2014 of the Health Accord that ensured a steady annual increase in transfer payments for health care from the federal government to the provinces. The end of that agreement means those payments now increase by only three per cent annually instead of six per cent.

The decision by the Liberals to meekly accept what Ottawa was offering means that British Columbia could be losing as much as $5 billion in transfers over the next 10 years, said Judy Darcy, the NDP MLA for New Westminster.

Not getting that money has meant an erosion of services and an increased workload for health care workers, said Val Avery, the president of the Health Sciences Association, the union that represents 16,000 health care professionals in more than 250 hospitals and agencies.

Health care needs to meet the needs of everyone, she told the rally.

Darcy said she hears every day from constituents who are having trouble finding a family doctor or cant get access to primary health care.

Thats going to get worse, not better, she said.

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Health care workers rally at Sapperton Park