QUEBEC CITY – More than one in five Quebecers don’t have a family doctor.
Why?
Health Minister Gaétan Barrette blames doctors for not taking on enough patients.
“It’s a matter of will from doctors to enroll patients and render themselves to being seen by a patient. That’s where the problem lied and still lies,” he said.
Tuesday, Barrette revealed a new online portal for Quebecers to self-register and be matched with a family doctor.
However, opposition parties are skeptical this will help fix the province-wide problem.
“I think that people are well served from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday,” said Coalition Avenir Quebec leader François Legault.
“The real problem in the health care system is at night and at weekends.”
Quebec City resident Richard Conabree said he is forced to go to the hospital when he’s sick.
“About 10 years, 10 years I haven’t had a family doctor,” Conabree told Global News.
Montreal resident Francis Pearson has been on a wait list for five years.
“I have special needs that need to be attended to. I was placed on the priority list, but a lot of my friends do not have a doctor,” said Pearson.
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Barrette’s goal is to match 85 per cent of people in Quebec with a family doctor by the end of 2017 and the proposed Bill 20 will force doctors to take on more new patients.
Quebecers can register on the online portal here.