For several years, Quebec has been dealing with a growing flow of patients using the health care system. Added to this is COVID-19, which has highlighted the demanding and often difficult working conditions of workers in our community. Finally, the pandemic has awakened the population and political actors to the limits of this structure and the imperative need to rethink it so that it meets the real needs of the population.
Posted yesterday at 10:00 a.m.
Over the past few decades, Western countries have been keen to develop a health organization with a curative aim, based almost exclusively on care for the population, diagnosis and medical management. It is clear that prevention has always been the poor relation of this ecosystem.
At a time when we are urgently wondering about possible solutions to improve it and prevent it from collapsing, while guaranteeing every Quebecer equitable access to care, would it not be no time to question the place of prevention to act upstream of the treatment of diseases? In order to avoid overcrowding of the healthcare system by patients awaiting treatment, would it not be useful, if not absolutely necessary, to consider the impact of the prevention of these diseases on the number of patients admitted?
If we don’t want a system to become clogged, the solutions are simple: either we increase the output possibilities, or we reduce the incoming flow. However, the current proposals are largely in favor of increasing access to care and not reducing admissions.
We know that the majority of chronic diseases that affect healthcare professionals daily are preventable. The societal cost of disease is a burden for all societies. In Quebec more specifically, in 2016-2017, nearly one in five adults suffered from at least two chronic diseases. In addition to the enormous costs incurred on the health system, these are also associated with a lower quality of life and increased mortality.
Ultimately, these diseases occupy essential beds that we can no longer do without.
Disease prevention is an essential strategy for maintaining and improving the health of populations. Neglected for too long, it does not represent a cost for society, but a long-term investment: the findings from the pandemic demonstrate this well.
Today, we must think differently and act collectively for the prevention of disease and the promotion of health rather than constantly responding to the urgency of consequences that we could have avoided long before.
This lesson must be at the heart of the “refoundation” of the Quebec health system. And for this reason, our various organizations are calling on the government to set up an emergency plan for disease prevention and health promotion.
When a disease is preventable, we must work together to make it happen. The health of the population for future generations depends on it.
* Co-signatories, representatives of associations and professional orders in the health sector: Dr Bryan HoudePresident of the Association of Anesthesiologists of Quebec; Dr Arsene Joseph BasmadjianPresident of the Association of Cardiologists of Quebec; Dr Francois CorbinPresident of the Association of Medical Biochemists of Quebec; Dr Frederic BernierPresident of the Association of Medical Endocrinologists of Quebec; DD Helen BoyerPresident of the Association of French-Speaking Physicians of Canada; Dr Jacques MorinPresident of the Association of Geriatric Physicians of Quebec; Dr Martin A.ChampagnePresident of the Association of Hematologists and Oncologists of Quebec; DD Claire GamachePresident of the Association of Psychiatrists of Quebec; Dr Jean-Francois CailhierPresident of the Association of Nephrologists of Quebec; Dr Louis CrevierPresident of the Quebec Neurosurgery Association; Marie-Claude HottePresident of the Association of Neurologists of Quebec; Dr Elio Dario GarciaPresident of the Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Quebec; Dr Marc LebelPresident of the Association of Pediatricians of Quebec; Dr Antoine DelagePresident of the Association of Pneumologists of the Province of Quebec; Dr Gilbert BoucherPresident of the Association of Emergency Medicine Specialists of Quebec; Dr Mario ComePresident of the Quebec Association of Surgery; DD Claudel Petrin-DesrosiersPresident of the Quebec Association of Physicians for the Environment; DD Caroline LabergePresident of the Quebec College of Family Physicians; Valerie LuciaExecutive Director of the Federation of Kinesiologists of Quebec; DD Laureanne Dussault-DesrochersPresident of Young Doctors for Public Health; Jean-Francois LortiePresident of the Order of Dental Hygienists of Quebec; Paul BernierPresident of the Order of Dietitians-Nutritionists of Quebec; Luc MatthewPresident of the Order of Nurses of Quebec; Julie PelletierPresident of the Order of Midwives of Quebec; Pierre-Paul MalenfantPresident of the Order of Social Workers and Marriage and Family Therapists of Quebec