Marie and Perry Gdalevitch expected to receive authorization to perform medical procedures covered and not covered by the RAMQ in the months following their November 2021 application, Radio-Canada reported Monday.
In February 2023, they learned that their application had been rejected, in particular because of a labor shortage.
The two sisters have invested two million dollars to develop two operating rooms.
The recent trend reversal enchants them. We are pleased to know that the process appears to be progressing positively and feel that we are finally approaching the date when we can deploy our teams to support the collective effort in surgery.
Marie Gdalevitch has nearly 300 patients on her orthopedic waiting list at Verdun Hospital. She is a Canadian limb lengthening and deformity correction specialist.
Her sister Perry, a specialist in breast reconstruction, has been working in the private sector for several years after working at Saint-Eustache Hospital.
According to their plan, 25% of their operations center’s uptime would be spent on medical procedures not covered by the RAMQ.
Doctors from the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal supported the application for approval.
The surgeons of the CIUSSS recognize this lack of access or competence on the island of Montreal and would like our CIUSSS to participate in a tender for access to a competent and available CMS, wrote orthopedic surgeon Hugo Centomo.
Six operating rooms were set up in a building in Westmount. The two owner surgeons are trying to obtain a license from the Ministry of Health.
Photo: Radio Canada / Davide Gentile
No aesthetics, emphasizes Dubé
In February, Radio-Canada announced that Quebec had denied 15 private surgery permits.
Health Minister Christian Dubé, being questioned during a press crush in the National Assembly on Tuesday, said he was ready to approve new private surgery centers except those operating aesthetics due to a shortage of nurses on the public network.
“If you want it to speed up [le traitement des gens inscrits sur les] Waiting lists and that these are not so-called aesthetic clinics, we will approve them. »
— A quote from Health Minister Christian Dubé
According to our information, at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, two plastic surgeons acquired a building on a commercial street in Westmount and set up six operating rooms there, a multimillion dollar investment.
Two years later, the two entrepreneurial surgeons who sought a review after being denied their license had to increase their mortgage to $15 million and juggle legal construction mortgages.
One website specifically advertises the cosmetic surgery services offered there.
According to a source familiar with the scene, the two doctors took a bold financial risk.
According to the Médecins Québécois pour le régime public group, the outsourcing of operations paid for by the RAMQ must remain a short-term solution.
“In the medium and long term, the existence of specialized medical centers must be questioned. As we continue to develop a parallel network of CMSs, we run the risk of resurrecting certain problems in these companies that are similar to those we are currently seeing in private employment agencies. »
— A quote from Dr. Mathieu Isabel, President of Quebec Doctors for the Public Regime