ALBERTA HOSPITAL TRIES TO BOOST REVENUE BY ATTRACTING GASTROPLASTY PATIENTS FROM US

The fate of a surgical weight reduction program at the 25-bed hospital in Cardston, Alta, is in limbo as Alberta's Conservative government d ecides whether it will allow the hospital to keep profits made by perf orming gastroplasty on American patients last year. Cardston Municipal Hospital which has had more than 1200 Canadian banded gastroplasty pa tients since 1979, began recruiting American patients from Montana and Idaho last year. However, rumours that the Klein government will redu ce the regional health authority operating budget by an amount equal t o the hospital's profit have jeopardized the program's future. The hos pital first marketed the program in the US to cushion short-falls in g overnment funding.