“We need a transformation of the health care system,” Robert Ouellet, president of the association that represents the country’s doctors, told the National Post’s editorial board yesterday. “I’m not very proud of how it’s working now in Canada. We have good quality care in our system but it’s the access, the wait times [that are the problem].”
But an irrational fear on the part of most Canadians of private sector medicine is part of the reason the system here has not improved, he said.
“[Our system] has become some kind of religion,” he said. “The word ‘private’ is taboo in Canada. I’ve been talking to people around the world and they don’t get why it’s such a big deal to talk about private care. In France, 60% of surgeries are done in private clinics but paid by the government. The point is to do what is important for the patient. [In Canada] we are thinking about the system, we’re not thinking about the patient.”
