Several hospital emergencies in the province posted occupancy rates exceeding 130% on Saturday.
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Traffic is at its peak in health establishments, mainly in Montreal, the Laurentians, Lanaudière and Montérégie.
240%, 206%, 177%… the situation in the emergency room, around 8 a.m., caused a lot of “problems”, according to a specialist in internal medicine.
Dr. Yves Parent, who practices in the Laurentians, explains that the service offering is insufficient in the region which is experiencing strong population growth.
The Mont-Laurier Hospital also recorded the highest occupancy rate in emergency rooms in Quebec.
“It’s not an open secret, because emergency rooms almost everywhere in Quebec, but particularly in the Laurentians, are super busy. The Laurentides region is the one with the most population growth. People try to do the best they can, but we are talking about support problems at the level of radiology, technicians,” raised the specialist in internal medicine at Saint-Jérôme Hospital.
TVA News
The strike in question?
While the FIQ healthcare professionals will be on strike from December 11 to 14, the union side wants to be reassuring.
Essential services to the population will be maintained, it is confirmed.
“Strike times are decreasing from tomorrow, precisely to compensate for the cumulative effect of the strike […] if we look at the previous newspapers from last year, the year before, the last ten, twenty years, it’s always full”, defends Sonia Bureau, vice-president of the category 4 union at the CIUSSS de l’Est-de -Montreal Island.
To find out the occupancy rates and waiting times in your hospital’s emergency room, consult the following link.
TVA News
To find out all the details, listen to our journalist’s report in the video at the beginning of the text.