Quebec’s health minister is planning to table a bill that would force new family doctors and medical specialists trained in the province to devote the first few years of their careers to the public system.
In a statement, Health Minister Christian Dubé said “too many doctors decide, as soon as their careers begin, to leave Quebec’s public system.”
“We will take steps to ensure that the population has access to the care for which it pays,” Dubé said in the statement.
It’s not clear how many years those physicians would need to spend in the public system at the start of their careers. It’s also not clear if they would need to work exclusively in that system during that time.
The health minister was asked those questions during an interview with Radio-Canada’s Tout un Matin, but said he needed to be careful with providing details and let the legislative process play out.
“Just know that the objective behind this, like other measures we’ve put forth in the last two years, is to strengthen the public system,” he told Radio-Canada.
According to the Health Ministry, 775 out of the 22,479 physicians that practise in Quebec work exclusively in the private sector — a 70 per cent increase since 2020. The ministry says this trend is even more noticeable among new physicians.
“That may not seem huge but those could be the doctors we’re missing to give people appointments within 36 hours,” Dubé said.
The Health Ministry also says taxpayers spend between $435,000 and $790,000 to train a physician.
Earlier this month, Radio-Canada reported that the province was considering taking family doctors away from healthier people to make sure they took on the most vulnerable patients.
The idea — which Dubé stressed was far from becoming a reality — was heavily criticized by opposition parties.
According to Radio-Canada sources, the Legault government is considering changing how family doctors are assigned based on Quebecers’ health to ensure that the most vulnerable have access.
Good idea, but not enough, says Québec Solidaire
On Monday, Quebec’s College of Physicians published a set of “guiding principles” regarding private health-care and called for that sector’s expansion to be “suspended immediately.”
The Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ), which represents medical specialists in the province, said it wants to see Dubé’s bill before weighing in on the plan.
“With that being said, we want to remind the government that the best way to keep medical specialists in the public health system is to give them the tools to provide care,” the federation said, citing a lack of equipment and staff.
“And if this type of obligation applies to physicians, it should also be applied to other health professionals, many of whom are leaving the public sector for the private sector.”
The Médecins québécois pour le régime public (MQRP), a group that advocates to preserve the province’s public health system, said it was happy that Dubé “finally recognized that the exodus of physicians towards the private sector is an issue that negatively affects access to care and the public system.”
According to Québec Solidaire (QS), an opposition party that has often accused the CAQ of either facilitating or failing to slow down the growth of the province’s private health sector, Dubé’s idea doesn’t go far enough.
“It won’t bring back the 800 physicians that already left the public sector,” said Vincent Marissal an MNA and health-care critic for QS.