The Canadian Health Network, a popular, bi-lingual, informative, and easy-to-use web site will be shut down at the end of March as a contribution towards a $16.7 million public spending cut the Public Health Agency of Canada was ordered to make. The web site is being axed by the current Canadian Conservative government. Canadian Health Network is not only popular among citizens, but also medical professionals.
Other web sites affiliated to the Canadian Health Network will also feel the impact of this blow. There is a growing swell of opposition to this move from a wide spectrum of Canadian society. Many say this decision will take away a useful tool from doctors, nurses, medical personnel in general, and members of the general public.
The web site has a good reputation for having neutral, up-to-date, and reliable information – such information found nowhere else in others run by the Canadian federal health department and other public health agencies. A spokesman for the authorities, Alain Desroches, described the decision as a very difficult one.
Personal Comment by Christian Nordqvist, Editor, Medical News Today
I have regularly used this web site myself and love it! It is one of the few in the world today that provides excellent information from a neutral standpoint. Cutting this service to Canadians is a decision that should be reversed. It is not often that we see public bodies doing an excellent job. This is a service that is not compromised by having to make a profit (it is non-profit making) – a true service. Pulling the rug from under their feet is a tragedy!!
— www.canadian-health-network.ca
— About Us – Canadian Health Network
Written by׃ Christian Nordqvist