Quebec Liberals promise to hire more doctors, nurse practitioners

Quebec Liberals promise to hire more doctors, nurse practitioners

In a recent visit to the Outaouais, Quebec Liberal leader Dominique Anglade said that she was committed to adding 1,000 doctors to the health network in five years and to tripling the number of specialized nurse practitioners by 2030. She made the announcement yesterday (August 23) in Chapleau, where she introduced candidate Assumpta Ndengeyingoma, a professor in the nursing department at the Université du Québec en Outaouais. The riding is currently held by CAQ MNA Mathieu Lévesque.

According to the Liberals, 1,000 additional places in university faculties of medicine would be added over the next few years, or 200 per year. According to official statistics, Quebec has 22,425 physicians (11,979 general practitioners and 13,035 specialists). Nearly 830,000 people are on the waiting list for a family doctor, according to data from the Department of Health and Social Services.

“Access to a family doctor is a basic service and we have to improve the situation. Every week, citizens challenge me because they have lost their doctor,” said Pontiac MNA André Fortin (translated). “Every day, citizens tell me that they have been waiting for one, two, three years to get a family doctor. We have two choices. We say that hundreds of thousands of Quebecers do not need a family doctor, this is the approach of the CAQ. Or, we train more doctors. This is our proposal.”