The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, stressed Friday morning that it was unacceptable for people presenting at a university hospital to be redirected to other resources. However, for former minister Gaétan Barrette, it is “troubling” to see that Mr. Dubé does not know “his law”.
• Also read: Mr. Dubé, our health system has abandoned them
• Also read: The ban on medical tests at the MUHC for patients in 450 is unacceptable, complains Christian Dubé
“For me, it was very disturbing because the minister should know what is happening in his network and he should know his law,” says Mr. Barrette to Richard Martineau on QUB radio at 99.5 FM in Montreal.
Everyone can go and get treatment wherever they want, underlines the ex-minister. However, he explains that a hospital can redirect patients for certain examinations, in particular “if it is not in its mission and if it does not have the capacity to do so”.
Thus, university hospitals which welcome and treat people from everywhere ask doctors to refer their patients to their territory when it comes to front-line examinations, such as blood tests and ultrasounds.
The problem, he denounces, is that front-line resources do not always offer schedules adapted to people who are then forced to be absent from the office.
“Can you tell me why the CLSC is not open on Saturday morning to take blood tests? The people who go to the MUHC and CHUM during the week, [ce sont des gens] who work in town and they don’t have time to go in the morning to get a blood test because it doesn’t [fonctionne pas] with their work schedule. They can’t go there in the evening and they can’t go there on weekends because our friends the unions […] don’t want [le faire à ces moments]», Indicates Gaétan Barrette who believes that the minister is not putting enough resources in place to provide adequate services to the population.
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