Despite the imposing waiting lists for a family doctor, the Quebec Ministry of Health has given itself the directive of only replacing 75% of those who retire.
This was revealed on Tuesday by a senior ministry official, Martin Forgues, in the context of a trial in the Superior Court.
The department made that decision, he said, following the recommendation of its actuaries.
“Actuaries are asking us to consider 75% of retirements,” said the assistant general manager for frontline services. “If we had a higher number of doctors, we would replace 100%”.
The senior official was testifying in the context of the legal action brought by a Montreal doctor, Dr. Mark Roper, against the system used by the government to distribute family doctors on the territory, the Regional Medical Workforce Plans (PREM).
According to Dr. Roper, the PREM calculation method generates injustice and disadvantages Montreal. In the Faubourgs, Plateau-Mont-Royal and Saint-Louis-du-Parc sector, for example, the PREMs of 2022 estimated that there were 21 doctors too many, while the registration rate of 61% of patients ” is the worst in the province,” reads his motion for an injunction.
PREMs deemed necessary for the regions
In his testimony, Mr. Forgues maintained that the abandonment of PREMs would be a disaster for the regions. “We would no longer have doctors in the regions,” he said, emphasizing that the model “aims to protect the regions” because doctors all want to work in Quebec and Montreal. »
The senior official also suggested that too much importance should not be given to the arrival of new family doctors because they take care of few patients at the start of their careers.
More than a million Quebecers are on the waiting list for the Family Doctor Access Window (GAMF), according to data from May 31.
According to Dr. Amélie Desjardins-Tessier, who was present at the trial, the government’s target of 75% is all the lower since doctors who retire are deemed to have more patients than the average. “The oldest doctors retiring, they have 4,000 patients and more, it takes four to replace them,” argued the head of the local DRMG table in Montreal for the Côte-des-Neiges-Métro sector. -Park-Extension.
Transfer to 450
PREMs in Quebec are determined by the Committee for the Management of Physicians in General Medicine (COGEM), which is made up of representatives from the Ministry of Health and the Federation of General Practitioners (FMOQ).
However, the minister has the power to adjust the PREMs unilaterally afterwards. What Christian Dubé did this year by transferring a third of the positions of family doctors destined for Montreal to the 450, a decision that had sparked an outcry.
The lawsuit brought by Dr. Roper is due to continue on Wednesday with oral arguments from his lawyer Julius Gray and the lawyer representing the Attorney General, Amélie Bellerose. The Court is presided over by Judge Dominique Poulin.
This trial comes as the government has sidelined its goal of assigning a family doctor to at least 85% of Quebecers. Instead, Health Minister Christian Dubé wants to ensure that patients are taken care of by family medicine groups (GMF).