(Montreal) Initially encouraged by the desire expressed by the Minister of Health “to hear all [des] partners, as well as people in the field”, the grouping of Quebec Doctors for the Public Regime (MQRP) now says it is dismayed at not having been invited to the consultations on Bill 15.
In a press release sent Thursday, the group founded in 2005 claims to have been “in all important discussions on the organization of health care” for more than a decade. However, despite “several requests through the official channels of the commission” as well as public outings, no invitation was sent to him to discuss with elected officials in order to improve the future “Act to make the health and services system social more effective.
Through the MQRP, hundreds of doctors and medical students are demanding to be heard by decision-makers. As the name of the group says, it is mainly the defense of the public nature of the network that challenges these health professionals.
They believe that “the indisputable choice […] to make more room for private healthcare” will have profound and lasting impacts on the network. These doctors therefore wish to be welcomed in person to discuss what they consider to be “a fundamental issue” of Quebec society.
Following the public release of a vast collective of community organizations called “Riposte au Plan santé”, of which the MQRP group is a part, the office of Minister Christian Dubé said that it was reaching out to the coalition and had invited it to be heard during the consultations. However, it seems that the scope of this invitation is limited only to the filing of a brief.
Bill 15 aims in particular to create the Santé Québec agency, a Crown corporation that will have the mandate to oversee the operations of the entire health network, while the department will retain the role of determining the orientations and budgets.
The special consultations on the bill, led by the Committee on Health and Social Services, must resume next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Professional orders and unions will then parade in front of the elected officials.