Canada's health-care system on the verge of collapse, says head of CMA

CMA President Dr. Katharine Smart says challenges facing the health care system must stay top of mind for Canadians. Emergency departments are overwhelmed and 'Canadians aren't getting healthcare.'

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[pringlw]

You can’t ban private medical care, and then fail to provide public medical care. But that’s what’s happening. A 20 hour wait (on average so half is worse) is no care at all. This is a human rights violation as far as I’m concerned and it needs to be fought in the courts. There are times when the “nice & compliant” nature of Canadians is a problem and this is one of those times.

[Brad.]

You can't have as many people immigrate into the country and not build hospital's and medical clinics and doctors to accommodate the influx of people into the country. This is a homegrown federal government problem.

[kaurinaj]

I’m sure it doesn’t help that tens of thousands of nurses and thousands of paramedics were put on no pay leave since last year.
The federal gov spent 240 Billion on pandemic relief, and did not increase hospital capacity by a single bed.

[russbarrows]

When I moved to the US with my job I was seeing five (5) specialist doctors in addition to my Family Care Physician. Four (4) of them all had Canadian accents. I took opportunities to ask them and all said they had moved to the US because of the better career opportunities, climate, and money. I think Canada is being hurt by the immigration of quality medical personnel to the US.

[Stupidtravel]

We need more medical schools and deserving students being given scholarships

[Abdullashora]

My mom has been a family physician in GTA for over 20 years, she cannot continue to afford her staff and clinic with her declining salary and increased demand. She just applied for an Illinois licence and will be leaving Canada.

[MollyMarine]

This is what happens when you hire people who don’t care about Canadians

[Azel]

Health authorities: We are short on nurses!
Also health authorities: Nurses get a 1% wage increase when inflation is 8%

[SergeyKargopolov]

I think the healthcare system has already collapsed in Canada 😒. I have been waiting to see ENT doctor for 2 years now and my first appointment is 4 month away. So it is 2.4 months to see ENT doctor 😒. No doctors yet there is a limit on number of students who can get into medical school 🤔. I think politicians who promised to solve this problem if they are elected need to be fired as they have not delivered their promises and made things even worse 😬

[tonyk]

The Canadian healthcare system was already in major trouble well before the pandemic, the pandemic simply exposed it for what it is.
As a country's population and immigration levels grow, it becomes inherently more difficult to service that population's ever-increasing universal healthcare services needs.
There are now too many people in Canada, and the country simply does not have the infrastructure required to adequately support the citizenry.
The only option at this point is to introduce private healthcare services to offset some of the burden on the public system, while also overhauling the current public system with major structural changes and reforms to get it to function more efficiently.
Don't expect the current Canadian government of the day to figure these things out or implement any solutions, but do expect your wait times to get even longer than they are now.
Watch for it.

[nuxkamina]

My family has never had a family doctor and are still on waiting lists. My daughter is now 11. My step dad died having a heartattack at 52 sitting in the waiting room at PGH waiting for care. I need to get my family out of this country but we've been here for generations and I don't know where to go.

[ChefNick]

Probably shouldn't have e fired all that staff for not getting vaccinations..

[GrahamMasters]

Lower the cost for students to join the health care system. Problem solved. Maybe if it didn't cost north of $300.000.00 to attempt this field, we wouldn't have a collapse.

[jampyzerozero]

What I see is the Hospital stays the same, staff shortages, 10, 000 new homes & Condo's built down the street.

[johncorcoran]

It is possible that this is by design to influence a two tier or entirely private system. You cannot add 500k in new people per year and not have these effects.

[garyyvan]

It’s been collapsed for a long time. Wondering if they’re still thinking it was a good idea to fire the good ones

[aimeecatena]

"It's never a Problem when You've Money & A Title!"

[dogoftheg]

20 doctors quit in the Brandon region of Manitoba.

Hospitals have pages of unfilled nurse jobs no one is applying for.

It’s going to get bad. Really bad.

[trust_in_God]

Is anybody aware of the numbers of doctors, nurses, lab assistants, technicians and care aides fired in Canada last November? Also, has anybody wondered why people became so sick all of a sudden? Hmm... that's a good question

[raylenemacdonald]

Excellent interview! Why isn't this on every network news. I am a nurse of 36 years experience and I wholeheartedly agree. When it comes to primary care, the bedrock of our healthcare system, we now have multiple tiers; those with good primary care, those with inadequate primary care (2 month wait for an appointment) and those with no primary care provider. Unfair and dangerous to our health.