Montreal/CMEDIA: In the wake of reportedly a controversial Bill 2 reforming doctors’ pay, which was passed on Oct. 25 in Quebec, over 250 Quebec doctors are applying to be able to work in Ontario, according to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO).
Bill 2, adopted into law last month that imposes a new salary structure on physicians, has caused hundreds of doctors in Quebec to apply for work in other provinces.
In just over two weeks, the CPSO reportedly saw a surge of applications –with 13 times more applicants than the 19 total received from June 1 to Oct. 22 this year.
As of Monday morning, 263 Quebec doctors had applied to be licensed in Ontario since Oct. 23.
Of those 263 applicants, 35 have been approved for certificates, the CPSO said.
Set to take effect in the new year, Quebec’s Bill 2 links doctors’ compensation to performance targets relating to the number of patients they care for. Fines of up to $500,000 per day will be imposed on doctors who take “concerted action” to challenge the government’s policies.
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The doctors did not cite reasons for their applications, The CPSO said, and added not all the applications will be granted a certificate, as some may be withdrawn or cancelled.
As about 2.5 million Ontarians were without a family doctor as of last summer, Ontario Premier Doug Ford recently encouraged Quebec doctors desiring to leave the province to call a hotline and said he would have them working “real quick.”
In the meantime, after years of raising awareness about staff and resource shortages impeding health care, Dr. Trevor Hennessey, chief of the department of anesthesiology at the Integrated Health and Social Services Centre in the Outaouais Region, resigned last week and is considering moving to Ontario, as he is already certified to practice in the province.
Bill 2 was the last straw, Hennessey said.
He said he reached out to inquire about working at the Ottawa Hospital, but said they were already “inundated” with applications from Quebec.
Hennessey said the “potential gag order effects” of the law are pushing doctors to Ontario, despite similar difficulties with staffing and resources and added there’s still confusion about what is considered “concerted action.
Doctors needed in both provinces
Supporting colleagues in Quebec, the Ontario Medical Association said that governments should work with doctors to best serve patients.
About 13,000 medical professionals and supporters rallied at the Bell Centre in Montreal urging François Legault’s CAQ government to suspend a law that imposes a salary structure on physicians.
Following Bill 2’s introduction, federations representing Quebec’s general practitioners, specialists and medical students put forward legal challenges.
Premier François Legault’s office said that they have reached out to doctors’ federations to discuss next steps and said the changes aim to improve patients’ access to family doctors.
Christian Dubé, Quebec Health Minister who initially tabled the bill, declined to comment on the decisions of the individual doctors.
But a statement from his office says it shares doctors’ concern about how their practices and compensation will change.
“Quebec needs all of its doctors,” the statement reads.
