The Association of General Practitioners of Montreal, the Regional Department of General Medicine of Montreal and the Mayor of Lachine are working together to preserve the community mission of the Lachine Hospital as well as its emergency. They ask the McGill University Health Center (MUHC) not to transform the facility into an ambulatory center, an avenue that would be considered by the management of the MUHC.
The head of the Regional Department of General Medicine (DRMG) of Montreal, the DD Ariane Murray, sent a letter Thursday to the President and CEO of the MUHC, Dr.D Lucie Opatriny. In the missive of which The duty became aware, she writes that the Lachine community hospital is “necessary” in the region and that its transformation into an ambulatory center “would be a serious mistake and would confirm a lack of planning and understanding of the needs of the local and territorial population of the western sector from the MUHC. »
The DD Murray emphasizes that the Montreal DRMG must be “a stakeholder in the steps surrounding the evaluation of the scenarios under study”, because its “expertise and field of competence is the establishment and organization of general services on the Island of Montreal, as well as the assessment of primary and secondary care needs provided by Montreal general practitioners”.
“Despite the brief exchanges we had with [le CUSM] about the difficult situation in terms of medical and professional staff, we do not consider that we have been involved in the discussions that are currently taking place,” she wrote.
common front
The Association of General Practitioners of Montreal (AMOM) also expressed to DD Opatrny his “concern” about the outpatient center scenario. In a letter sent on February 28, of which The duty obtained a copy, its president, the Dr Michel Vachon denounces this “incomprehensible about-face” on the part of the MUHC. He recalls that a year ago, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, gave his approval to the modernization project of the Lachine hospital, an investment of more than 200 million dollars.
“In the current context where there is still overheating in all of the surrounding ERs, how can we consider restricting or even closing these ERs, or even intensive care permanently, without seeing a negative impact? on the service offer? What the west of Montreal needs are more beds and a renewed reception capacity in local services for less well-served communities, such as Lachine and Dorval. »
The mayor of the borough of Lachine, Maja Vodanovic, said she “does not understand how the MUHC can even consider removing an emergency in the West Island”. “The only emergency we have in the west is Lakeshore Hospital, which has an occupancy rate [sur civière] 175% on a fairly regular basis and even sometimes 200%,” said the elected official, who wrote to the CEO of the MUHC about this on Wednesday.
Maja Vodanovic will take part in a citizen march on Saturday aimed at keeping the Lachine hospital emergency room open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as well as intensive care. Since February 14, the hospital’s emergency room has been operating from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. for outpatients, i.e. those arriving by their own means at the emergency room. “Ambulances transporting patients in need of acute care” are “redirected to other hospitals”, indicates the MUHC on its website.
According to the health establishment, the Lachine hospital “has been facing labor challenges for several years, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic”. In a press release issued on February 8, the MUHC indicates that “at the request of the new CEO of the MUHC, the DD Lucie Opatrny, the clinical leaders of the establishment will immediately begin discussions in order to assess the best solution for the mission of the hospital”.
At the time these lines were written, the MUHC had not responded to questions from the Duty.
Further details will follow.