Bill for airlifting Sask. COVID-19 ICU patients to Ontario and back tops $1.3M

Saskatchewan will pay more than $1.3 million for transferringCOVID-19 ICU patients to Ontario in the fall.

In total, 27 people were sent to Ontario to alleviate the overburdened ICU capacity in Saskatchewanduring the peak of the fourth wave in the province.

Between Oct. 18, and Dec. 14,25 patients were transported by contracted, private planes and two were taken on Canadian Armed Forces transports. Of those patients, 21 were transferred back alive.Six people would die in Ontario.

Saskatchewan spentan estimated $529,200 on flying the patients back, the province confirmed in an email to CBC News on Dec. 14. That brings the total cost of the airlift project to$1.3 million to date, but there arestill more bills to come.

The airlift

The province confirmed in a legislative committee at the end of November that as of December it had spent $783,532 on the airlift operation.

Those costs included two contracts: a$545,000 deal with Fox Flight Air Ambulance and a $96,000 agreement with Sunwest Aviation, which was contracted through STARS Air Ambulance.

Twenty-three people were transported by Fox Flight while two others were transported through Sunwest.

WATCH |Sask. family frustratedafter 5-day wait for return of father's body from Ontario:

Sask. family frustrated over delays after father dies of COVID-19 in Ontario

3 years ago

Duration 2:01

The family of a Saskatchewan COVID-19 patient is criticizing the province for delays and a lack of communication after their father was transferred to Ontario, where he died but it took five days for his body to be returned.

Along with the flights, Saskatchewan has revealed that it covered costs for travel, meals and accommodationsfor the family members of ICUpatients flown to Ontario.

That expense was pegged at $142,532 as of Dec. 2.

More costs

It's not clear which company the province paid to fly patients back to Saskatchewan but there are going to be more costs associated with the airlift program.

The province says it has not yet been provided with a bill for two aspects of the airlift.

That includes the flights for two patients to Ontario on a Canadian Armed Forces transport.

The other cost will be the eventual bill from Ontario for treating the 27 patients in that province's ICUs.

As of Wednesday evening, Saskatchewan's health ministry said Ontario had yet to tell them how much is owed.

Saskatchewan Health Minister Paul Merrimanhas previously said the provincewouldn't get a bill from Ontario until the entire process was over and all patients wereback in the province.