Canada’s Healthcare Crisis | A Compassion Deficit and a Leaderless System

In this episode of Hart2Heart Dr. Mike Hart is joined by Dr. Sohail Gandhi to discuss the issue of the family physician shortage in the province. With 16,000 licensed family doctors but only 9,500 practicing comprehensive care, Dr. Gandhi sheds light on the reasons behind the shortage, including administrative burdens, compensation issues, and lack of respect from the government.

Dr. Hart and Dr. Gandhi discuss potential solutions like improving working conditions and revisiting the healthcare system structure, including introducing deductibles and private healthcare to alleviate stress on the public system. They also dive into the role of other healthcare providers, the impact of policy decisions on patient care, and the pervasive issue of burnout among healthcare workers.

Guest Bio and Links:
Dr. Sohail Gandhi practices family medicine in Stayner, Ontario and has been the Investigating Coroner of Simcoe County since 2001. A graduate of the University of Toronto, Dr. Gandhi is currently an assistant clinical professor at Queen’s University Medical School and a lecturer in medicine at the University of Toronto. He has held leadership positions at both the OMA and in the community, including Medical Staff Executive and Chief of Family Practice at Collingwood General and Marine Hospital, and Chair of the Board of the Georgian Bay Family Health Team.

Show Notes:

0:00 Welcome back to the Hart2Heart Podcast with Dr. Mike Hart
0:15 Dr. Hart introduces guest, Dr. Sohail Gandhi to the listeners
1:30 Today’s topic: family physician shortage in Ontario
3:00  ”We've got 6,000 people already in Ontario who could do the job if we make, if we made the working conditions better.”
3:30 Misconceptions about the shortage
9:00 Solutions from other provinces
18:00 Role of pharmacists and nurse practitioners
21:30 Antibiotic resistance and healthcare challenges
28:00 Pharmacists in healthcare
30:30 Challenges in treating bladder infections
31:30 Coordinated care in Ontario
32:00 Primary care models and their effectiveness
36:30 Patient accountability in healthcare
39:30 Obesity and Public Health
45:30 Benefits of the Denmark healthcare system
49:00 Private vs. public healthcare systems
54:30 Burnout in the medical profession
58:00 Closing thoughts
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Dr. Mike Hart is a Cannabis Physician and Lifestyle Strategist. In April 2014, Dr. Hart became the first physician in London, Ontario to open a cannabis clinic. While Dr. Hart continues to treat patients at his clinic, his primary focus has shifted to correcting the medical cannabis educational gap that exists in the medical community.

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[ZainabWanas-pf]

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this and gaining this insight. I hope we see a positive change for the future of healthcare in Canada and more advocacy for family physicians. Its alarming to hear about the rise in antibiotic use, but I wonder what the cause of this is. To highlight, pharmacists in Ontario can only prescribe oral antibiotics for UTI, which cannot be viral. For other common infections such as pharyngitis, bronchitis, OTM etc., which can be viral and self limiting, pharmacists cannot prescribe for. Perhaps the data discussed sheds light on to which antibiotics or indications there is a rise in. I would also be curious to see Alberta’s stats as their pharmacists have a full license to prescribe for all conditions except narcotics.