Hospital emergencies are overflowing like never before, in particular with a large number of children struck by respiratory viruses, an alarming situation to the point where the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, announced his decision to create a crisis unit responsible for proposing to the government for very short-term solutions.
Several hospitals are currently receiving a number of emergency patients that far exceeds their capacity. Tired of waiting for hours and hours, many patients, including parents of sick children, left the hospital without even seeing a doctor, a situation described as “unacceptable” by Minister Dubé.
“It is not acceptable for someone who has a child who waits 4 to 6 p.m. in an emergency” and who returns home empty-handed, he commented on Wednesday in a press briefing.
Minister Dubé has therefore asked his deputy minister, Dominique Savoie, to set up a crisis unit to which, in particular, the presidents of the CIUSSS of Montreal will be integrated. At the same time, he asked the national director of public health, Dr. Luc Boileau, to propose to him in the coming days an action plan comprising a set of measures to be put in place to resolve the crisis and reduce the excess traffic. expected in emergency rooms in the coming months.
Asked whether he was thinking of imposing the mask or other health measures to be implemented to reduce the pressure on emergency rooms, Minister Dubé replied: “I exclude nothing”, he said. , flanked by the Minister of Social Services, Lionel Carmant, and the Minister for Seniors, Sonia Bélanger.
“It’s going to be difficult” in the health network in the coming months, he acknowledged, saying he was looking for the best practices to implement in the network to free up the first line, particularly in a context of glaring lack. staff, including nurses.
The problem is particularly acute in the greater Montreal area. For weeks, hospital emergency rooms, including the Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal, have been overflowing with children struggling with respiratory viruses. In Sainte-Justine, the crisis reached unprecedented heights.
And the phenomenon will not go “down” in the coming months, warned Minister Dubé, because during the holiday season the presence of respiratory viruses, with the multiplication of cases of influenza, is always more important.
At this time of year, “it all gets worse. There is always even greater pressure on the healthcare system in the fall and winter. And this year, it happened before its time,” noted Minister Bélanger.