DURHAM -- A psychiatrist at the Rouge Valley Ajax and Pickering hospital said he and his colleagues would probably quit rather than continue working if their unit is reduced.
Dr. Arul Thangaroopan said he would open a private practice rather than try to provide psychiatric services without inpatient services.
Dr. Thangaroopan, along with doctors Aiyadurai Gnaneswaran, Mohamed Zakaria and Girish Birdi plan to present their case to the Central East Local Health Integration Network board when it meets Friday morning. Rouge Valley wants to move 20 mental health beds from Ajax to Scarborough Centenary hospital as part of a plan to cut costs.
The four dispute the claim by Dr. Steve Fishman, chief of psychiatry for Rouge Valley Health System, who has said closing the inpatient mental health beds at Ajax would be more than offset by improved outpatient services.
“That’s total crap. It won’t improve outpatient services,” Dr. Thangaroopan said.
“When I see a patient here who is grossly psychotic, I admit them. Now, where will I send them? I talk to my colleagues and we can make a bed available,” Dr. Thangaroopan said.
If the only inpatient mental health care beds are at Rouge Valley Centenary, officials there could turn away Ajax doctors trying to find a bed for a patient, he added.
Dr. Fishman’s statement that “fewer and fewer mental health patients tend to be hospitalized,” is “absolute rubbish,” Dr. Thangaroopan said.
“I can challenge him openly on what he says. There’s nothing in the literature to back him up,” he stated.
Dr. Birdi said with the population of west Durham growing, having the mental health services local is vital.
“We need more and more inpatient beds. We don’t know how this is possible. It’s less and less. Rather, it should be more,” Dr. Birdi stated.
Dr. Gnaneswaran said families of mental health patients will be greatly impacted if the only inpatient beds are in Scarborough.
“The patients, a lot don’t have cars and their families don’t have cars,” he said.
A patient may be staying in the hospital for up to two weeks, so “social support is very important for the patient and for the family,” Dr. Gnaneswaran stated.
Dr. Zakaria said, “We understand the budget deficit. We are the only ones affected. You need inpatient with outpatient.
The 20 inpatient mental health beds at Ajax are usually full, the doctors said.
“We transferred patients to Centenary because their beds were empty,” Dr. Zakaria said.