RE:RE:RE:RE:An Unorthodox Method for Obtaining Investor Information: FOIIn his original post, Investry had two basic suggestions. One was to go after the provincial authorities so to get some info about their purchases. I have not tried that route but I'm aware of an ideal case to test the proposition. Late last fall, the Healt Department of Nova Scotia had to buy four new sterilyzers in a rush. The situation was covered by the press. Anyone wants to try?
Investry also suggested that;
This tool could also be utilized to seek information on any potential outbreaks related to ineffective sterilization of medical equipment whereas a follow up request could seek information on the type of sterilizer used that may have contributed to such an outbreak.
Through the press, we are aware of three cases over the last 18 months: one each in BC, in Ontario, and in Quebec.
I've tried dig into the question more systematically by filing a serie of requests under the FOI Act with Health Canada, which has an agreement with a few dozen hospitals which are supposed to report all incidents involving medical devices. some were relatively general, others were very specific, for example there is one that specified precisely that I was interested with, you'll see me coming, the TJF-Q1 by........Olympus! In all cases, I got an acknowledgeemnt of my request so that I got the names of the persons in charge of my requests. Despite having tried to get in touch by emails and even by phone (my calls were never returned), I never succeeded in getting any real information even after monts and months of waiting. The closest was one instance where I was told they had to get in touch with some third parties before releasing the info. In another, I was told that they had no info in their files. This so while It was already known in the Canadian general press that there were indeed problems with CRE in surgical units of Canadian hospitals.
Good luck if someone wants to try this track again. As for myself, I'm back to the general assessment provided by some journalists of the CBC now more than a year ago.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/superbug-outbreaks-at-canadian-hospitals-not-reported-1.2517765