The Legault government has just placed a bill on the order paper “aimed at increasing the supply of primary care services by general practitioners and improving the management of this supply”. It could be tabled tomorrow in the National Assembly. The Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec (FMOQ) says it is “disappointed” and finds “unhappy” and “incomprehensible” that Quebec adopts such an approach.
According to a government source, this bill is intended to be “a hand extended to family physicians”. “It was done in this state of mind,” we say. OK. But will we impose a quota of patients per doctor (1000, for example)? Are coercive measures planned? Impossible to know more.
The FMOQ points out that it does not know anything about the content of this bill. She says she learned about it late Tuesday night. “If it is an outstretched hand, I unfortunately ask myself the question why already for three weeks, it is radio silence [de la part de Québec], says its president, the Dr Louis Godin. If we really wanted to reach out to each other so much, why didn’t we discuss [avec nous] for three weeks and that we have not started to work? According to the FMOQ, the “last formal meeting” with the government dates from October 20.
The Dr Louis Godin fears “that it is above all a bill of coercion, obligations or threats if we do not come to an agreement” with the government. “We have already expressed it, if it goes through coercion, it will have very negative effects on the ground,” he said. It will bring chaos, a demotivation. “
During his inaugural speech for the parliamentary session on October 19, Prime Minister François Legault had indicated that “many discussions with representatives of family physicians” had taken place for three years and that he was beginning to “get impatient”.
“I have always thought that it was better to come to an understanding with the doctors, but, if necessary, we will not hesitate to impose a conclusion, because Quebecers expect to be taken care of then to to have front-line services within a reasonable time, ”he said.
Some 800,000 Quebecers still do not have a family doctor in Quebec.
Further details will follow.