A report released on Monday revealed that wait times for availing treatment in Canada have surged 18.2 weeks in 2010. This is for the first time that an increase has been experienced in waiting times in the country since 2007.

The report `Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada' by the Fraser Institute brought out that the average waiting time in B. C. rose to 18.8 weeks from 17 weeks in 2009.

Mark Rovere, the Fraser Institute's Associate Director of health policy and co-author of the report said, "We're seeing continued government rationing, which is leading to longer wait times. Our current system is leaving Canadians without timely access to treatment". He added that the waiting time had increased by three weeks than as though justified by doctors.

The median wait times across the country has been assessed by surveying Canadian physicians. The shortest wait times were found in Ontario with 14.0 weeks followed by Manitoba with median wait times of 17.5 weeks.

The wait times in Quebec and British Columbia were reported as 18.8 weeks. In Alberta, the median wait times climbed up 22.1 weeks; in Saskatchewan, it was 26.5 weeks; Nova Scotia, 28.5 weeks; and Newfoundland and Labrador, 29.1 weeks.

Around 90,000 patients were waiting 35.6 weeks on an average for orthopaedic surgery, which was the longest wait time, as stated by Rovere.