The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is the Government of Ontario ministry responsible for administering the health care system and providing services to the province of Ontario. Christine Elliott is the incumbent Minister as of June 29th 2018.
Video Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
Services and Programs
- Ontario Drug Benefit Program - prescription drug coverage for people age 65+
- Ontario Health Insurance Plan
- OHIP+ - prescription drug coverage for children and youth aged 24 and under
- Trillium Drug Program - prescription drug coverage for people under 65
- Long-term care
- Home care
- Community and Public Health
- Health Force Ontario
The Ministry also regulates hospitals and nursing homes; operates psychiatric hospitals and medical laboratories; and co-ordinates emergency health services for the Province.
The Ministry once operated ambulance services outside of major cities in Ontario, but the services were off-loaded to municipalities circa 1998.
Maps Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
History
In the early years of confederation, health was still considered primarily a municipal rather than provincial matter. The Public Health Act of 1873 permitted the Lieutenant Governor to establish by proclamation, a temporary "Central Board of Health" to deal with disease if it reached epidemic proportions. However, no proclamations were ever made, and a Central Board was never established.
The Provincial Board of Health was established on March 10, 1882 and was charge with overseeing the many local health boards. It also assumed the responsibility of dealing with an epidemic, if one should arise. The board reported to the Lieutenant Governor (1882-1903); the Provincial Secretary (1904-1918); and to the Department of Labour (1919-1924).
In 1924, the Provincial Board of Health was replaced with the Department of Health. In 1930, the department accept from the Department of the Provincial Secretary the responsibilities for administering Ontario's psychiatric hospitals and inspecting the province's public and private hospitals. Also in 1930, the Department of Hospitals was established under the direction of the first Minister of Health; that department became a division of the Department of Health in 1934. In 1952, cancer research and the operation of cancer clinics was added to the department's responsibilities. Insured hospital services and insured physicians' services, introduced in 1959 and 1966 respectively, were combined under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) in 1972. The department also had responsibility over areas that are no longer associated with health, such as water and sewage functions (prior to 1957), mental retardation facilities and children's services (transferred to the Ministry of Community and Social Services in 1974), and occupational health (transferred to the Ministry of Labour in 1976).
In 1961, the Royal Commission on Health Services, chaired by Justice Emmett Matthew Hall, was appointed which served as a catalyst for a major overhaul of the department.
In 1972, the Department of Health was renamed the Ministry of Health in a government wide restructuring. In 1999 the Ministry of Health was renamed the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.
List of Ministers
References
External links
- Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care website
- Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care organizational structure
- Health Quality Ontario website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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