Not rocket science

Dear sir:
When I was about 10 years old, I asked my father what “oxymoron” meant. He explained that it was the conjunction of mutually exclusive terms—two things that could not possibly go together. He quoted the two most famous examples as “military intelligence” and “bureaucratic initiative.”
It took about 10 years to persuade the Ministry of Health that Manitoba has a perfect right to decide who is a specialist in that province.
It will, apparently, take even longer to persuade them that Winnipeg and Thunder Bay are almost exactly equidistant from Fort Frances.
This is not rocket science; anyone with a computer can go on the Internet and check on Mapquest which gives the distance to Winnipeg from Fort Frances as 219 miles and the distance to Thunder Bay as 215 miles. Microsoft Maps and Trips gives the distance from my house to Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg as 218 miles, and from my house to Health Sciences in Thunder Bay as 215 miles.
These programs assume that you have a brain and wish to take the shortest route and use the least amount of gas.
The Ministry, in their infinite wisdom, assume that you wish to waste time and gas and go to Winnipeg via Kenora, in which case you will drive 265 miles, take an extra hour and use an extra two or three gallons of gas. The department which deals with travel grants is not amendable to argument on this question. Winnipeg is 265 miles from Fort Frances because they say so.
It is often quicker to get a specialist appointment in Winnipeg than in Thunder Bay and, when time is of the essence, patients will be sent to Winnipeg.
Your physician will then get a letter demanding reasons for not sending you to Thunder Bay to the nearest specialist.
You will get a letter from the Ministry stating that you will only be paid for the distance to Thunder Bay.
If, by chance, it is a service not available in Thunder Bay, you will receive extra money for the trip since the Ministry have shifted Winnipeg fifty miles further west.
This nonsense has been going on for a long time. It may assume more importance if the bus service to Thunder Bay ceases. Patients unfit or unable to drive to Thunder Bay may be left with no alternative than a Winnipeg specialist.
Like all other local physicians, I spend a considerable amount of time dealing with this garbage and am quite likely to start using bad language if this flagrant wastage of time increases.
Perhaps Mr. Hampton could persuade the Ministry to drive the two trips with him and record the mileage. It appears unlikely that anyone in the department will ever accept the rational solution, which is to pay the same travel grant for a specialist trip whether it be to Thunder Bay or Winnipeg.
Sincerely,
Dr. B.T. Johnstone