Believing that the situation in Quebec’s emergency rooms “is at a particularly worrying stage of deterioration”, the opposition parties demand with one voice that the Health and Social Services Commission launch a mandate to initiative on the issue.
“We cannot sit idly by and count the dead,” says Rosemont MP Vincent Marissal.
Believing that the situation has “deteriorated over the past year” in emergencies, the MP for Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Joël Arseneau, is concerned to see that “people are dying on site even before […] to have received adequate care.” On the side of the Liberal Party, we indicate “we cannot tolerate the current situation in our emergencies”.
This request comes the day after the publication in The Press of an article which reported the death by pulmonary embolism of a 66-year-old lady, Micheline Bouchard, in the emergency room of the Regional Affiliated University Hospital Center (CHAUR) in Trois-Rivières. According to the family of the deceased, Mme Bouchard spent 22 hours in the emergency room and had not received treatment when she collapsed at the end of the day on August 17.
“The multiplication of cases like this requires us to focus our attention on the state of our emergencies to avoid an even more serious deterioration,” writes Mr. Marissal, spokesperson for Québec solidaire in matters of health, in a letter addressed to the president of the Health and Social Services Commission, Luc Provençal.
In this missive, Mr. Marissal recalls that the Regroupement des chefs d’urgence du Québec described last week “the situation as being ‘out of control'” in emergencies. “Thus, it appears to us that it is our responsibility as elected officials to examine the situation in depth and to find structuring solutions in the short and medium term,” it is written.
On Tuesday, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, held a press conference where he affirmed that emergencies were in high demand at the moment. He invited citizens to avoid going there if possible.
Parliamentary committees can issue initiative mandates on certain subjects. A little earlier this year, such a mandate was launched on violence during initiations in the world of junior hockey. “What we want this time is an actual emergency X-ray. We want to ensure that there is follow-up on this subject,” said Mr. Marissal.