The use of the private system in the health network is dividing the most important politicians, to the chagrin of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ).
Posted at 5:06 p.m
Alice Girard-Bossé La Presse
During a health debate organized by FIQ and FIQP on Monday afternoon, outgoing Health Minister Christian Dubé said he was open to using the private sector as a solution to improve the first line.
The Conservative Party of Quebec went even further. “We propose liberalization of the healthcare network, so we propose opening up the private system with the health insurance card when the delays are unreasonable or the costs are cheaper in the private sector,” explained Conservative candidate Karim Elayoubi.
For the President of the FIQ, Julie Bouchard, an “inconceivable” measure. “Let’s take these amounts and make sure that we can invest them in the public network, to have a single employer with better conditions and, above all, to be able to offer better services,” she said after the debate at the conference.
For the FIQ, the next government must first focus on its own public services rather than resorting to private sector. Québec solidaire agrees. “It’s heresy to go through the private sector if we haven’t given everything that was required in the public system to make it work,” Solidarity candidate Isabelle Leblanc said.
The Parti Québécois also wants to rely on the public system. “We will not succeed if we combine the public and private networks. We won’t be able to meet the working conditions of the private sector if we stay like this,” said PQ member Sylvie Tanguay.
The unanimous parties
However, in order to improve the healthcare network, the five main parties agreed: we need to end mandatory overtime (TSO) and introduce a worker-patient relationship.
“If there’s one flagship measure I’d like to eliminate, it’s the TSO,” said Mr. Dubé. But you can’t remove it with a magic wand, he says. “So we’ve created a very clear plan with a dozen concrete actions that will allow us to remove the TSO,” he said.
Byanca Jeune, candidate for the Liberal Party of Quebec second. “This doesn’t happen overnight,” she said. To eliminate OSI, it wants to improve working conditions and hour management, set up on-the-job day care, speed up the recognition of diplomas for newcomers, recruit staff from other Canadian provinces, and increase admissions to CEGEPs and universities.