Legault and Dubé “looking for a fight”: Doctors consider pressure tactics

Doctors are considering using pressure tactics to protest the Legault government's decision to impose a new performance-based remuneration system on them.

In a full-throated attack on Minister Christian Dubé's new bill, the president of the Federation of Medical Specialists accused the Legault government of "picking fights" to overshadow its failures.

"We are facing a political spectacle, a minister who is introducing a bill because he is drowning, because the resources he promised us are currently not forthcoming," complained Dr. Vincent Oliva. "We don't have an operating room, we don't have an outpatient clinic, we don't have a secretary, there are no computers, the infrastructure is crumbling, our hospitals are old, there are bats and flies in the operating rooms!"

The “same style” as Gaétan Barrette

According to the president of the specialists, the Minister of Health is torpedoing their negotiations with bills that violate their rights. Dr. Oliva even compares his "style" to that of former Liberal minister Gaétan Barrette.

He believes that Quebec cannot impose a new method of remuneration linking 25% of revenues to the achievement of performance indicators regarding surgery times, when specialist doctors are unable to perform the required operations and hospitalize patients due to a lack of staff. Operating rooms are only open three days a week in some parts of the province due to a lack of nurses.

"I'm ready to talk about performance, but will they be efficient, will they be able to give us tools?" mocked the FMSQ president. "Should we tie part of the Minister of Health's compensation to the achievement of these objectives? These stories are a two-way street."

No magic

Family doctors aren't much more sympathetic to Christian Dubé's plan. They will have to make 18 million appointment slots available annually to meet their performance targets. The Fédération des omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ) also hasn't ruled out pressure tactics, which would, however, not affect services to the public.

"The underlying problem is a shortage of more than 2,000 family doctors and the need to add other health professionals to support physicians. A bill will not magically create thousands of new family doctors. It will not address the lack of professional resources to support them," the general practitioners' union argued.