Robert Libman: Amid the uncertainties of COVID, a health care wake-up call

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“Medicine is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability,” said William Osler, the Canadian physician often described as the father of modern medicine.

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The uncertainty associated with the COVID pandemic has made it extremely difficult for governments around the world to respond effectively. Last year, around this time, we thought we saw the light at the end of the tunnel with the development of a vaccine. The word “variants” suddenly entered our daily discourse and we learned that we would not only need two injections, but also a booster. After Delta, last November we were caught off guard by the even more contagious Omicron, which would soon take over. The number of cases skyrocketed around the world, despite vaccines.

For the medical community, mastering the art of probability in the face of this uncertainty has been challenging. At various times, there have been questions about the effectiveness of the masks, the optimal time between vaccinations, herd immunity percentages, the length of the quarantine period, the need for a third injection if you’ve had COVID, and if the workers at the Health who performed the test Positive should be allowed to work if they are asymptomatic, as a lesser risk than a shortage of hospital staff. With medical consensus so elusive at times, how do governments strike a balance?

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The impact of proactive lockdown measures on isolated older people who cannot see their families, for example, or struggling small business owners, or students who do not go to school at home, can be extremely serious. It is demoralizing to hear the opposition or commentators constantly and somewhat unfairly criticizing the government for not going far enough or going too far.

We don’t know what’s lurking around the corner: how severe the virus will become or whether the new variants will be completely resistant to vaccination.

What we do know is that we have already received a chilling wake-up call; We have seen how health care systems around the world, our own in particular, were unprepared. This is where our government ultimately deserves to be held accountable. The pandemic has magnified important problems that already plagued the system. Hopefully, severe staff shortages, bad practices and wrong priorities are now front and center in this election year.

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One place to start is to change the regional system of medical workforce plans (PREM) that restricts where doctors can practice in Quebec. There is a tremendous shortage in Montreal. The number of places available in the PREMs is well below the number of medical graduates, which means that some go or go to the private sector. The carrot should replace the stick. We desperately need to create positions and encourage our healthcare providers instead of creating constant obstacles and stress. We are exporting too many doctors and medical professionals instead of doing everything we can to attract them to Quebec.

The reduction of immigration levels by this government is also counterproductive, as we desperately need more manpower. There has also been a net interprovincial emigration from Quebec every year since 1971. . Our linguistic legislation and the discriminatory religious symbols law also make Quebec less attractive to medical professionals. In 2020, Language Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette announced that the Office quebécois de la langue française (OQLF) would launch a hiring wave and increase its budget to $ 30 million a year. This expense for bureaucrats studying language complaints could pay the salaries of 550 new nurses.

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The government’s focus on identity and language politics should seem so banal compared to this crisis.

The status quo leaves us ill-prepared to deal with ongoing uncertainty and less able to handle Osler’s “art of probability.” A major review of Quebec practices and priorities is critical to allowing our health care system to absorb the impact of any unexpected twists and turns.

Robert Libman is an architect and building planning consultant who has served as a leader of the Equality Party and MNA, as the mayor of Côte-St-Luc, and as a member of the Montreal executive committee. He was a conservative candidate in the 2015 federal elections. twitter.com/robertlibman

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