Christian Dubé loses patience with doctors

Exasperated by the lack of cooperation between the province's two medical federations, Minister Christian Dubé insisted that their remuneration would be linked to targets, even if he had to impose it.

"I have nothing against doctors, it's for the patients [...] Too many Quebecers are waiting too long and I intend to do everything necessary to ensure that patients come first," he declared during a press briefing Tuesday morning.

Health Minister Christian Dubé provided an update on the government's negotiations with family physicians and specialist doctors. He reiterated that he had given himself the summer to renegotiate the agreements.

However, he strongly criticized both federations, expressing regret that he had not received any counter-proposals from them. Mr. Dubé even indicated that the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ) had been absent from the negotiations for a month.

For months, doctors have been calling for the withdrawal of Bill 106, which aims to link up to 25% of their compensation to performance targets.

Even though the federations refuse to negotiate while the bill is on the table, the minister assures us that it is here to stay. "There will be targets and related compensation," he said, ready to force it on doctors.

Christian Dubé also claims to have softened his targets at the request of doctors.

Dead end

In an interview with Le Journal on Tuesday afternoon, both medical federations denied having been absent from the negotiations this summer. Both the FMOQ and the FMSQ assured that they had attended numerous meetings, contrasting with the minister's criticisms.

For FMOQ President Dr. Marc-André Amyot, if the government were "in good faith," it would agree to submit the matter to arbitration. According to him, the bill gives too much power to the minister, believing that nothing would oblige him to respect any possible agreement.

"Imposing a bill on us is not negotiation," lamented Dr. Corinne Leclercq, interim vice-president of the FMSQ. Her members intend to intensify their pressure tactics in the coming weeks.

Sabotage

Christian Dubé also did not fail to criticize the Federation of Medical Specialists of Quebec (FMSQ) and its pressure tactics, accusing its members of harming the implementation of the Digital Health Record (DSN).

"For the FMSQ to sabotage such a major project is to target the wrong people," he said.

On Minister Dubé's Facebook page, which broadcast his press briefing, several doctors insulted him and denounced his comments.

Some targets

Christian Dubé highlighted some of the changes proposed by the government to doctors on Tuesday morning.

For family doctors, he wants to reduce the number of billable procedures from 5,000 to just ten. He also proposes an hourly rate for patients with complex cases and is also calling for more availability on evenings and weekends.

With the specialists, he discussed the need to rebalance income between specialties where there are more women, such as pediatrics, since they earn less money.