That's the message Natalie Mehra, director of the Ontario Health Coalition, took from recommendations on the Niagara Health System's restructuring plan made by a health care expert Tuesday.

"Dr. Kitts is recommending the closures of Port Colborne and Fort Erie hospitals," Mehra said in a conference call with Niagara This Week, following Tuesday's Local Health Integration Network meeting where Dr. Jack Kitts made his recommendations on the plan. "He is supporting the removal of services out of local communities."

Mehra said with the NHS plan, there are still many questions left unanswered.

Dr. Kitts, like the NHS, failed to comment on where funding will come from for a number of supporting services needed to implement the plan. A regional transit system will need millions to get off the ground as will bumping up ambulance services in Niagara, said Mehra.

She also said Dr. Kitts is supporting one mega hospital for all of Niagara, something the health coalition has feared since the decision to build the new St. Catharines hospital was made.

"What he is approving is one mega hospital for Niagara," she said. "And that is not accessible."

During his remarks Tuesday, Dr. Kitts said there was a misconception with Niagara public that there are six hospitals in the region. He said there is in fact one hospital, spread over six sites.

Mehra said the misconception exists, because the people of Niagara were never told to think that way.

She also warned that the cuts coming in the next five years are the first of many.