Doctors make a house call on Parliament Hill
It was a house call with a twist. Instead of checking on the patient's health, the doctor was delivering a grim prognosis on the state of Canada's medical profession.
During CMA's March 4 Lobby Day on Parliament Hill, two dozen physicians drove home a simple message - that Canada needs more doctors to ensure access and meet patients' health care needs, now and into the future.
"Health care will be an issue in the next election," CMA President Dr. Brian Day promised more than 120 MPs, senators, doctors, residents, medical students, media representatives and others at a kickoff breakfast in the parliamentary restaurant.
"We want a strong federal role in health care, and during our meetings today I think you'll find that's what we're speaking for." Day emphasized that while health care remains primarily a provincial/territorial responsibility, there is room for federal leadership in:
- extending medical schools and training facilities and resources
- improving our use and development of health information technology, such as electronic health records, across the country
- creating a national strategy to address health human resources shortages and plan for the future.
Some 52 tête-à-têtes with individual MPs followed for doctors, residents, medical students and some senior members of CMA staff.
Dr. Gail Beck, a psychiatrist with the Royal Ottawa Hospital, got right to the point in her first session. "We want the Government of Canada to put health care back on the agenda," she told Royal Galipeau, MP for Ottawa-Orleans, to nods of agreement from colleagues Dr. Jacques H. Roy and Dr. Puman Rana. "We need more spaces in medical school. The Government of Canada can set standards in health care, you've done it before."
But Galipeau was adamant that doctors had brought on the present shortaqe by putting up barriers against international medical graduates and any broadening of scopes of practice for other health professionals, intentionally keeping the number of licensed physicians low in order to protect turf and high incomes. However, he agreed with his visitors that health care is a priority for everyone, and that attempts to reduce wait times must continue.
Rana, a McMaster University graduate now doing her residency in Ottawa, called the encounter "an eye-opener" but said she was enjoying the day overall and valued the opportunity to see the more political side of medicine.
There was a warmer reception for doctors meeting with Judy Wasylycia-Leis, the NDP caucus chair on health, soon after a fiery Question Period in the House. Wasylycia-Leis, who represents Winnipeg North, had managed to squeeze in a question about the lack of new money for health care in the recent federal budget, despite preoccupation that day over the controversy swirling around the Conservative Party's past involvement with the late David Cadman, an independent MP in the previous government.
She told Dr. Ruth Vander Stelt, Dr. Robyn Olson and CMA staffer Lynda Buske that her party is solidly behind helping the five million Canadians who don't have a family physician gain access to care, and will continue to push for budget initiatives and other means to keep health care high on the political agenda. She was also interested in pitches from Vander Stelt to develop federal programs that would make Canada "self-sufficient" in producing enough doctors to serve Canadians' needs and to further electronic technology use among health care professionals.
Overall, participants seemed pleased with what transpired over the day. "It's always useful to have an exchange of ideas and to hear other people's points of view," said Patricia Davidson, MP for Sarnia-Lambton. And Roy, a psychiatrist based in Gatineau, QC, was equally positive about the experience: "We answered some queries, set the record straight. I think we got our message across."
A health-check clinic offered by the Montreal-based research organization Clinimetrica proved popular, drawing 66 MPs, senators and others for a 15-minute assessment of their cardiovascular and diabetes-related health risks.
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© Canadian Medical Association or its licensors 2008
