FREDERICTON, NB -Liberal health critic Bill Fraser is among those crying foul over cuts to the hospital in Perth-Andover.

The Alward government announced this week that it would not pay for any further repairs to the hospital, which was hit hard by flooding earlier this year.

The announcement means a loss of 53 jobs at the hospital as services like obstetrics won’t be returning to the facility.

Fraser says it’s an about-face for the Alward government which pledged to restore the hospital following a catastrophic flood in March…

“And in fact, they even alluded to building a new hospital on higher ground in that region.  And here we are today, finding they’re not returning all the services that were there and have just fired many front-line health care workers.”  says Fraser.

Premier Alward says he can’t justify sinking further funds into renovating the flood-damaged hospital while spending money to relocate many homes in the area to higher ground.