Private health care growth raises concerns in Quebec
This week’s edition of who is saying what about public health care is compiled by Pat Van Horne.
Criticism over Quebec’s growing private health-care network
“Who benefited from all these destructive reforms of the public health and social services system? (It is) entrepreneurial doctors, people from the business world, businessmen and women who made a profit out of sickness. . . “(Quebec) is the worst province in Canada for protecting its public health and social services system. There are over 800 (doctors) who have left the public system” said David Bergeron-Cyr, vice-president, Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) at a news briefing at the National Assembly, CTV News, The Canadian Press, February 12, 2025.
Strike action by BC workers at private company LifeLabs: workers declared essential service, rotating strike may begin Feb. 20
“Fundamentally, what this strike is about is a struggle against an American for-profit health care company . . . We don’t want to see clients and the workers of LifeLabs themselves have their conditions and service degraded for a higher profit margin for an American for-profit company,” said Paul Finch, president of the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU), which represents about 1,200 LifeLabs workers in the province who have been without a contract since April 2024, to the Vancouver Sun, February 16, 2025.
OPINION: World without WHO is far less secure
“Canada should stand firm against the assault on the World Health Organization (WHO). . .For more than 75 years, the WHO has been the primary co-ordinating body for global health. It tracks and addresses health crises all over the world, offers cutting edge data and expertise in outbreak prevention and response, and serves as the global technical and political forum for health promotion. . . If the U.S. government distances itself from WHO-led initiatives, it willingly accepts the risk of health insecurity. However, given the interconnectedness of our two countries, any spike in disease outbreaks south of the border—including the ongoing highly pathogenic avian influenza—could spill over, endangering the health of Canadians,” said Roojin Habibi, assistant professor, faculty of law, member of the Centre for Health Law, Policy, and Ethics, University of Ottawa, in the The Hill Times, February 12, 2025.
RELATED: Cuts to USAID impact the world say Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF Canada)
“While MSF does not accept U.S. government funding and will not be directly affected by cuts or freezes to President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), many of our activities are contingent on the programs that have been interrupted. In some places, we’ve had to adapt and change our activities and the indirect effects of these freezes have already been felt in our projects in various parts of the world. . .In Sub-Saharan Africa, where MSF runs several HIV/AIDS and related health programs, we are already witnessing impacts on patients. In South Africa, many clinics providing HIV services, including testing, treatment through PEPFAR-funded organizations have been shuttered, leaving people confused and distressed about where to access their critical medication. In Mozambique, a major partner organization of MSF that provided comprehensive HIV services had to stop activities completely. In Zimbabwe, most organizations providing HIV services have also stopped work, disrupting in particular the DREAMS program aimed at decreasing new HIV infections in adolescent girls and young women,” said an MSF statement issued February 14, 2025.
Survey shows accessibility health care and home care “significant concern” for older Canadians
“Accessibility to health care and home care services remains a significant concern for many older adults in Canada, with unmet needs often tied to financial concerns . . . Despite consistent needs, only two-thirds of Canadians aged 50 and up report accessing the health-care services they require all or most of the time. In 2023, the NIA published a report that looked into access to health care for older adults, and it found that only 65 per cent of Canadians aged 50 and better have access to a regular primary care provider such as a family doctor or nurse practitioner—which means that nearly five million of the most vulnerable Canadians from a health perspective are without reliable primary care,” said National Institute on Ageing Director Gabrielle Gallant, and Executive Director Alyssa Brierley, in The Hill Times, February 10, 2025.
Rural black Nova Scotians not getting mental health care they need
“It’s hard to see where the work is being done, if anywhere. At this point, ‘wait and see’ is starting to sound more like, ‘maybe never,” said Adam Rodgers, a lawyer who represented the family members during the inquiry into the inquiry into the 2017 Lionel Desmond tragedy, to CTV News, The Canadian Press, February 13, 2025.
Crisis line for farmers facing chronic stress
“. . .Farmers are operating under chronic stress, and it is impacting their health, it’s impacting their mental health, and it’s impacting their day to day relationships and work. . . There’s a concern that there’s going to be no one who wants to take on the farm (and many who are worried their children taking over because it can be) “a heavy mental load,” said Victoria Hutt, mental health and farm safety co-ordinator with the Agriculture Alliance of New Brunswick, to CBC News, February 16, 2025.
Former medical examiner/investigator uses expertise in death to help others cope with darkness
“I thought the medical examiner’s job would make some sense, and make some use out of what I’d experienced. . . I have all this work with sadness and grief and death, and music on the other side of it to keep the music in my life There are so many places that you can get involved to offer what your skills are and the payment you get is from the people you meet and the people you help. It’s a very fulfilling way to spend time,” said Hedie Epp, who retired in 2010 and began volunteering with arts organizations, to the Winnipeg Free Press, February 18, 2025.
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