The Quebec health minister’s comments come after a report recommended giving vulnerable patients priority access to family doctors.
“Quebecers who have a family doctor will keep one. We want to reassure the public that we’re on the right track,” he said in a post on X.
“As we committed to in the health plan, our objectives are very clear: we are doing everything we can to facilitate access and simplify the organization of first-line care for all Quebecers. Now let the negotiations take their course.”
The INESSS’s report highlighted that 500,000 sick Quebecers lack access to a family doctor, and suggested reallocating up to 1.5 million medical appointments from patients who already have a doctor to those in greater need.
The proposed plan has faced sharp criticism from family doctors and public health experts, who argue that the INESSS’s recommendation is unlikely to solve the family doctor shortage and could lead to serious unintended consequences.
Earlier on Thursday, Paul Brunet, CEO of the Conseil pour la protection des malades, said he was confused as to why the government would consider such a plan.
“Why would you take away a family doctor from a million patients or more and think that giving them to sicker patients will be more productive? I don’t see the benefit.”
This story will be updated.