Posted at 1:00 p.m.
I pay my taxes, I have the right to a doctor
I completely agree with this new bill. I’ll be 65 soon and I’m worried and tired of fighting to get a family doctor. However, I pay my taxes like everyone else and I shouldn’t be penalized. Thank you for discussing this topic for us. Your article is relevant.
Lucie Bellefeuille
Wait 748 days
Dear general practitioners of Quebec, thank you for all that you do! But I, who pay my taxes like everyone else, you don’t do anything for me for the moment, because I no longer have a family doctor! It is unfair ! The software tells me that I will have one in 748 days!
Martine Huot, Quebec
Call back next week…
And what about the tens or even hundreds of thousands of patients who have a family doctor and are struggling to get an appointment? “Call back next week,” they are told, week after week.
Jocelyn Brault, Gatineau
Know where the money is going
You present an excellent text and a good analysis. This bill must be put in place for the people. With a salary of around $300,000 to $400,000 per year per general practitioner, the Department must first know better how the money is used and then how to offer better service to the population. The front line is the perfect place for substantial and rapid gains in improving our healthcare system.
Michael Carrier
More informed decisions
Let us not forget that it is article 6, which allows the Department to have access to denormalized data, which is at the heart of the problems. Doctors tell us that patients are going to be at risk, which is not true. Data analysis will enable informed decisions to be made and improve the distribution of care.
Claude Marcil
Doctors must give back
I am a retired doctor and completely agree with you. We must never forget that in most cases, taxpayers’ taxes have paid for the training of doctors in Quebec and it is the least we can do to give back to this same society.
George Picard
State officials
Doctors do not want to admit that they are civil servants, state employees, and conversely the government does not take its role as employer seriously. It is high time for the government to act as an employer.
Rejean Durocher, Montreal
Resistance against nurses
We agree with the position of the Minister of Health. For more than 15 years, the Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec has been the champion of resistance to the implementation of the role of front-line nurse practitioners, whose effectiveness in increasing access to care has been widely demonstrated. Even today, this resistance is subtly present. In many family medicine groups, the skills of clinical nurses are not fully utilized, as they are often limited in administrative functions. It is becoming urgent to review the remuneration of doctors and the incentives to facilitate their work in interdisciplinarity.
Nicole Ricard, retired nurse
Resistance to change
Our healthcare system is a monster that badly needs to evolve and find new ways to provide adequate services to an ever more demanding population. Unfortunately, as the position of general practitioners demonstrates, the change required is undermined by the defense of group interests to the detriment of the common well-being. Resistance to change and individualism combined with the politicization of the system will prevent any meaningful reform.
Julien Houle
Ridiculous advertisements
Why does the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec feel the need to spend considerable sums on television advertisements to tell us “We are taking care of you” when 900,000 Quebecers do not have a family doctor? It’s ridiculous. I would be embarrassed in their place. At 78, I am one of those orphans who have been waiting for a doctor for two years when I need it most. I feel abandoned by an organization that dares to claim to take care of me.
Yves Tremblay, Repentigny
Trust in Dubé
I trust Minister Dubé to finally make a significant and positive change in the situation of our health care system. To do this, rapid access to care via front-line professionals with the required expertise is fundamental. Mr. Dubé is a good listener and seems little inclined to political games that too often undermine the attempts at improvement that our society requires. He demonstrates empathy and humility, works in a team, seeks to understand, and his background as a seasoned manager serves him well in his quest for performance and efficiency measures. He is genuine, calm, persistent, and his goals for improving the health care system are commendable. But there will be many obstacles to overcome, as demonstrated by the overreaction of the Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec. Other similar reactions are to be expected from other professional orders and unions. The status quo is unthinkable, no offense to all the detractors that Mr. Dubé will encounter in his quest for improvement. I have confidence in him, because he has all the qualities required to successfully transform our healthcare system and bring it into the era of efficiency and digital modernity. The road will be long and arduous, but if all stakeholders put the ultimate goal of a well-performing health care system above their individual earning needs (more money, more time off, more relief from their ), I am confident that our health care system will be able to go from laughing stock to targeted model, because we have the means, the skills and the intelligence to get there. The pandemic has brutally revealed how fragile and underperforming our healthcare system is for what it costs; it has to change !
Real Bilodeau
The cursed doctors
We are in electoral mode. Blaming the damn lazy doctors pays off at the polls.
Michel Breton, MD