The newly created frontline access desk in Saguenay – Lac-Saint-Jean allows nearly 200 people without a family doctor to see a doctor every week.
In the region, between its commissioning in May and last October 15, the counter responded to 4,346 requests. In the last registered week, in mid-October, the call center handled 253 requests, the vast majority of which, 93%, in less than 36 hours.
Despite everything, it is difficult to establish how effective the counter is in the region, when 90% of the regional population is cared for by a family doctor, according to former Alma general practitioner and former Health Minister Yves Bolduc.
The wicket, according to him, will have a perverse effect. “These people will struggle to find a family doctor for the two-year convention at the counter. Doctors will put their efforts more towards the door than towards the treatment of new patients, ”Yves Bolduc believes.
The former minister believes that the help desk will be more in demand in large centers such as Montreal and Quebec, which suffer most from the lack of doctors. Saguenay – Lac-Saint-Jean is doing better than many other regions.
According to him, the solutions to unlock emergency rooms have been known for years if not decades, but they still face the same problem: a lack of resources.
