The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, failed in the task, denounces the opposition in Quebec, the day after a strong outing from Quebec’s emergency chiefs denouncing the situation which had become “out of control” in their services.
“Minister Dubé has failed in his responsibilities,” said Liberal MP André Fortin, reacting to the alarming situation in emergencies including The Press reported on Saturday.
In a letter addressed to the Minister of Health, the Regroupement des chefs d’urgence du Québec (RCUQ) deplores that emergencies have become “out of control” while “all ministerial attention was focused” on Christian’s vast reform Dube. The health network has “completely frozen” and the situation in emergencies “has deteriorated dramatically”.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The official opposition spokesperson for Health, Liberal MP André Fortin.
“When emergency managers repeatedly question a minister and warn him of serious consequences for patients, he does not have the right to ignore their concerns,” said the spokesperson for the official opposition on matters health.
Since August, associations of emergency doctors have repeatedly alerted ministerial teams of congestion in emergency rooms. At the end of November, two patients died in the crowded emergency room of the Anna-Laberge hospital in Châteauguay. Investigations are open.
“The recent deaths in waiting rooms, as publicized as they are, are only the tip of the iceberg,” argued the president of the RCUQ, Dr.D Marie-Maud Couture.
“When it becomes clear that there are people who die for lack of having seen a doctor, it’s still quite serious,” criticized solidarity MP Vincent Marissal. According to him, Christian Dubé “obviously failed in his first task and his mandate which is to ensure that people have the services.”
Last year, Quebec created a crisis unit to relieve emergency room congestion. According to the DD Marie-Maud Couture, these efforts brought “improvements in certain establishments”, but they then ran out of steam. Since the tabling of Bill 15 last March, meetings of the crisis unit have been less frequent.
Friday, Minister Christian Dubé’s office assured that he had been visiting emergency rooms since last week.
“The situation in our emergency rooms concerns us. We follow it every day with the teams. Our role is to make sure we handle the urgent and work on the important at the same time. We have all the people in place to do it,” we assured.
“What is disturbing today is learning that emergency managers have been calling on the Ministry in vain for months,” reacted PQ MP Joël Arseneau, reproaching Christian Dubé for having done “ the deaf ear “.
It is his ministerial responsibility that is at stake at this time, while he has washed his hands of a crisis which has become perpetual, with the risks that this entails for the quality of care, health patients and staff
Joël Arsenault, PQ MP
Recently, the president of the Association of Emergency Medicine Specialists, Dr.r Gilbert Boucher admitted that the situation in the emergency room “was starting to scare” his members.
“For two weeks there have been hospitals that have been in the 200% range, and it is during this time, precisely, that there are patients who come to the waiting rooms, who are not not seen and who die,” he indicated in an interview at the beginning of December with The Press.
With Fanny Lévesque and Ariane Lacoursière, The Press