Our news top gun in health is forced to begin its mandate by cutting services. Let’s not blame Geneviève Biron, the CEO of Santé Québec. Let us instead look at the insane choices of François Legault who pushed Quebec to the brink of insolvency.
Legault always boasted of being an accountant. It was one of his most important assets when he campaigned in the 2018 election, where he triumphed over Philippe Couillard.
He denounced the negligence of the Couillard-Barrette tandem and the austerity which, according to him, had undermined our health system.
The confidence he exuded in his ability to properly manage public finances and our health system earned him a majority victory.
His decisions to lower taxes at the same time as he sent checks to families ($500 in spring 2022 and between $400 and $600 in fall 2022) were not by chance, 2022 was an election year.
What could be simpler than buying people’s votes with their own money?
But the effect of this decision to increase spending while reducing taxes was catastrophic for Quebec’s public finances.
We are starting to see to what extent with the cuts to health care.
MASSIVE AUSTERITY OF THE CAQ
This week, we learned that the CISSS de Laval is suspending hiring for 569 positions that had been posted, particularly for nurses.
The CISS candidly admitted that this approach is being carried out “as part of the return to a balanced budget and the recruitment freeze decreed by the government”.
Other savings will see sampling services at the MUHC deprived of the most experienced people, who will be transferred to the laboratories.
Medical technologists work with hematologists, microbiologists, oncologists, immunologists as well as doctors in the transplant clinic for an average of 25 years.
It’s not just about drawing blood.
They will be replaced by auxiliary nurses, whose competence no one doubts for the specific work of sampling.
This is a saving, because they earn a little less per hour than technologists who have CEGEP level training, but at what cost to the patient in the care chain?
The government simultaneously announced that to avoid “duplication”, health system employees can no longer work in several establishments in the network, they must choose one.
This is insane bureaucracy! We are depriving ourselves of the experience and expertise of the people who work the hardest.
For what?
A QUAG
Next week, Legault will present his economic update to us. We already know that the Minister of Finance will announce a billion in health care cuts, hence these cuts.
They must present figures that prevent Quebec’s credit rating from being affected and making everything cost even more expensive, because we would pay more interest.
The great accountant Legault unfortunately did not know how to count.
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