A sign in front of the emergency entrance to a major hospital in St. John's reads: Closed From 11 PM. To 10 AM. This is absurd.

When I first saw the sign I was forced to do a double take. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and I had to stare at the sign. The longer I looked the more convinced I was that who ever erected this sign needed to see a doctor. But don't go in the evening - the hospital is closed.

'Tis a queer time we are in. It makes me wonder what's coming next. I compare the closing of a hospital emergency department to the closing of a fire department. I could only imagine what the residents of St. John's would say if the fire department announced that it would no longer be responding to fire calls between midnight and 8 A.M…..Isn't it pretty much the same thing?

A similar comparison can be made between hospitals and police departments. Would there be a public outcry if the police department issued a notice saying that it would not respond to calls on the weekends? Would there be outrage if the RCMP said that after 6:00 P.M. it would not be patrolling our province's highways and byways?

Yes - closing a hospital emergency department is absurd. This is especially true when the public demand for emergency health care seems to be at an all time high. And things will not be changing soon. The long wait at other hospital emergency departments will continue as long as, pardon the pun, people are prepared to sit and wait.