Patients suffering from rare diseases or cancer will no longer have the best treatments as soon as the new reform in Quebec goes ahead, worry specialist doctors and the Council for the Protection of the Patient.
In a rare joint outing, they accused the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, of ignoring their recommendations in the construction of his extensive health reform, consultations that began almost six months ago.
We realized that instead of making the network more efficient, as the title of the law indicates, we want to make the network heavier.
me Paul G. Brunet, President and CEO of the Council for the Protection of the Sick
Both organizations fear, among other things, that patients will lose their access to certain medicines. In article 336 of the bill, we read that only drugs recognized by the National Institute of Excellence in Health and Social Services (INESSS) can be prescribed by a health professional.
“Why send it to NESSS? We will not make the network more efficient like that,” said Me Brunet, who feared the rise of bureaucracy. “There is an additional layer added between the decision and patient care,” added, with him, the president of the Federation of Specialist Physicians of Quebec (FMSQ), Dr.r Vincent Oliva.
Currently, the Council of Physicians, Dentists and Pharmacists (CMDP) in each hospital examines the requests of doctors regarding medicine. “These committees are working. Let’s keep it that way,” said Dr Olive. He asked Minister Dubé to remove the INSSS’s right of veto from the bill.
Lack of listening
In addition, both groups said they were “not very satisfied” with listening to the Minister of Health. In recent months, the Federation and the Council for the Protection of Patients have proposed many improvements and changes to the bill to the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS), to no avail.
When we spoke with Minister Dubé, someone in front of us was listening, saying he was in collaboration mode. But what was written was very different from his speech. They listen to us very shallowly.
The Dr Vincent Oliva, president of the Federation of Specialist Physicians of Quebec (FMSQ)
Bill 15, entitled Act to make the health and social service system more efficient, filed last spring. This reform will lead to the creation of Santé Québec, a new state corporation, led by a CEO who will coordinate all operational aspects of the health and social services network.
Both groups also lamented the fact that many articles of the bill largely exclude health care personnel from decision-making centers for the benefit of administrators.
Parliamentarians are now reviewing the bill, which includes 1,180 articles. Minister Dubé wants to adopt the reform in December, excluding the use of a gag order to achieve it. This method allows the government to limit the time spent debating a bill and speed up its adoption.
