Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of going to the hospital. Granted I wasn't sick, but the hospital wasn't public either. The Cambie Surgical Centre is a private health care facility located right here in British Columbia. It opened in 1996 while the NDP were in power and now treats close to 4,000 patients a year. Diagnostic procedures such as MRIs are available within 2 days and surgery wait times are often less than a week.

At the private hospital, staff try to make every patient's stay as enjoyable as possible, knowing if patients are happy, more referrals will come through the door and business will grow. When you walk in, the receptionist greets you with a smile, the nurses are friendly and while I was there, the accountant was actually out sweeping the side walk. Try to imagine the same at your local general hospital.

By all accounts, the Cambie Surgical Centre has been a resounding success. In fact, just last year, it doubled in size and now boasts six operating rooms (more than UBC Hospital) and seven overnight rooms. However, the facility isn't available to just any patient. No, in Canada it's illegal to pay for a medical procedure or surgery that is available in the public system.

Cambie's success is due to the foresight and perhaps frustrations encountered with the public system by its founder and chief defender, Dr. Brian Day.

In 1990, Day was one of the many doctors getting squeezed out of operating rooms due to budget restraints. Because hospital funding is allocated on a global budget basis as opposed to a per patient basis, administration invariably looks to restrict costs as the fiscal year progresses. As money becomes tighter, the first thing cut is the most expensive: staffing and use of the operating room.

Recognizing the funding deficiencies were structural and therefore unlikely to change, Day was faced with two options: leave Canada or find a way to work outside the government health care system. Lucky for us, Day choose the latter and set up the Cambie Surgical Centre. It provides medical services for a fee to patients that are excluded from government's health program.

The principles and policies of the state health care system are set out in The Canada Health Act (CHA). The CHA defines who is insured, what medical services are included and what groups are exempt. A CHA exemption allows patients to purchase medical or health services from the private sector. For example, members of the Canadian Forces and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are not restricted to the government run system. Persons covered by workers' compensation also receive an exemption, as do federal prisoners.

As a natural entrepreneur and doctor, Day recognized and seized the opportunity. He negotiated contracts with the Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) that get claimants treatment sooner and back to work faster. In fact, during my visit, Day noted that the WCB is actually enjoying a reduction in health care costs!

Not surprisingly, Day has long advocated for a parallel private health care system in Canada. A purely monopolistic state health care system is expensive, inefficient and most importantly inadequate.

Day noted that virtually all of continental Europe has some form of a parallel private system, even those countries with universal health programs. There are many examples of better, less expensive and more patient focused health care systems than Canada's. Day pointed to Germany, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Greece, Luxembourg as well as New Zealand as examples of mixed public-private health care systems.

The Fraser Institute's 2004 report, "How Good is Canadian Health Care " backs up Day. On virtually every health care indicator, Canada is falling behind other OECD countries. We spend more tax dollars on health care; have fewer doctors, no choice and longer waiting times. Canada must ask how other countries are doing better with less.

Parallel private systems keep government providers honest by providing competition, attract new talent, act as a relief valve for waiting lists, improve the quality of service and most importantly puts decision-making back in the patients hands.

Provincial and federal governments should be looking to the Cambie Surgical Centre as our own private health care success story. Now its time to open the private sector to all patients, not simply Canada Health Act exemptions.