(Québec) Cinq mois après avoir remis sa démission, le Dr Horacio Arruda estime qu’il prendrait « les mêmes décisions » s’il pouvait refaire le passé. L’ex-directeur national de santé publique soutient par ailleurs qu’il n’a « pas eu de pression » pour quitter ses fonctions en pleine pandémie.
Publié à 17h41
Le Dr Horacio Arruda a fait jeudi une première apparition publique depuis sa démission, le 10 janvier dernier. Celui qui occupe toujours la fonction de sous-ministre adjoint au ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux prend sous son aile le volet prévention de la Santé publique.
Sans grande surprise, cette figure marquante de la gestion de la pandémie au Québec a eu à répondre à plusieurs questions sur les circonstances entourant son départ, au sortir du tsunami Omicron. À l’époque, le gouvernement Legault prêtait flanc à la critique pour avoir imposé un couvre-feu à la dernière minute et annulé les rassemblements du temps des Fêtes.
« Je regardais ce qui se passait particulièrement dans les commentaires médias et les réseaux sociaux », admet le principal intéressé. « J’ai toujours dit : le bon porte-parole au bon moment, à la bonne place et dans le bon temps […] what I did was I offered the government [de décider] based on his analysis, whether he felt it was time to make a change,” he explained.
I didn’t have any pressure, I didn’t have to rip my shirt. I knew I was going to continue in public health.
The Dr Horacio Arruda
The Dr Arruda said he continued to “intensely” follow press briefings on the evolution of the pandemic held by his interim successor, Dr.r Luc Boileau. “At some point in life, you have to change jobs, nothing happens for nothing, I liked doing what I did, I wish my successor to like what ‘he does […]but I’ll leave the Dr Boileau take care of microbes, ”he said.
“The same solutions”
In hindsight, the Dr Arruda does not believe he will have done things differently. “That question will always come up, and I know it, but I think […] that I have to put myself in the context and probably that in the same context we would still arrive at the same solutions”, he declared on the sidelines of the announcement on the launch of the Interministerial Action Plan for the Government health prevention policy.
To date, what he has found most difficult in command of this historic public health crisis has been making decisions without being able to rely on “evidence” at the very start of the pandemic. “Managing something without being supported by previous experiences is probably the element that has been the most difficult,” he added alongside the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé.
The latter also had good words for the Dr Arruda maintaining that he had not had “an easy mandate”.
The Dr Arruda will now act as an “ambassador for prevention” as he tours the regional public health and community branches, in particular to ensure the implementation of the 2022-2025 Action Plan. The plan is accompanied by investments of 120 million, or 40 million per year, until 2024-2025.