Canada’s health-care system needs radical change to survive: CMA president

Medical professionals and analysts have been warning governments for years that without reform, increased costs and an aging population will make the health-care system unsustainable.

Politicians across the country, however, have consistently ignored the warnings and have seemingly avoided the issue.

The latest critique of the system comes from one of Canada's most-respected and influential medical professionals.

In a speech Tuesday Dr. Jeffery Turnbull, the outgoing president of the Canadian Medical Association, said Canada's health-care system is failing and in need of immediate transformation.

"We have seen a slow and steady decline in what we would all now agree is a deeply troubled health-care system," Turnbull told about 300 physician delegates who have converged on St. John's for the CMA's annual general meeting.

"To be clear, this pillar of Canadian society is eroding. We are losing something of great value. It's slipping away slowly, incrementally."

Turnbull added Canada's health-care system now ranks below that of Slovenia's in terms of effectiveness.

At his hospital in Ottawa the situation is so dire, he says, 580 operations were cancelled last year and patients wait in emergency rooms for days for a bed, "or even just a chance to receive care in a hallway."

Turnbull and his CMA colleagues urge governments in Canada to make immediate reforms.

The proposed reforms, outlined in a report commissioned by the association, include everything from user fees to franchises and "various insurance schemes" to bolster the system.

The final goal is not privatization, they emphasize, "but rather a framework that allows a range of providers — public sector, private sector and non-profit — to compete in carefully controlled conditions."

The report ultimately challenges governments to show some leadership in instituting change, saying short-term fiscal fixes jeopardize much-needed fundamental reform.

Kelly McParland of the National Post doesn't have faith in Canada's politicians to provide the leadership to make the necessary health-care reforms.

"Find a politician who isn't trying to avoid the issue or buy a bit more time in the hope someone else will fix it," he wrote.

"In Ontario's election campaign, the Liberals and Conservatives have identical positions: they'll keep spending money they don't have on a broken system, terrified as they are of addressing alternatives. If you want a definition for failed leadership, there it is."

(CP Photo)