Faced with the growth of the private sector in the field of health, the College of Physicians of Quebec (CMQ), which reaffirms its attachment to a public health system, universal and accessible to all, calls on the government to take “rapidly” measures to improve access.
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During its meeting on October 25, 2024, the CMQ Board of Directors expressed its concerns about the “accelerated development” of the delivery of privately financed health services in the province.
The CMQ recalled that health is a fundamental right and that health services must be considered as a common good “which should therefore not be the subject of commercialization”, we can read in a document obtained by the Agency QMI.
“The CMQ advocates a public and universal health and social services system, accessible to all citizens, without discrimination, and within the time limits appropriate to their state of health.”
“The private sector does not improve access to care”
The College of Physicians of Quebec states that there is “convincing data” demonstrating that the development of the private sector “does not improve access and does not reduce costs associated with health care.”
He emphasizes that the offer, whether public or private, “must be regulated by the government as well as by professional orders”.
Faced with these findings, the CMQ made several recommendations to the Quebec government, including the immediate suspension of the expansion of the private health sector.
He also calls for existing private care to be “rigorously regulated and supervised” by Quebec, particularly with regard to the difference in fees paid for the same service, between the public system and the private sector.
In addition, the professional order considers that the financing of services offered to the private sector “must remain completely public” and not result in any additional outlays on the part of the citizen.
Remember that, according to data provided by the Ministry of Health, 331 general practitioners left the public system to go to the private sector in 2020. This number increased to 501 general practitioners in 2024. As for specialist doctors, the number went from 123 to 274 for these same years.
