Noushin Ziafati and Jessica Smith, The Canadian Press
–
Ontario’s major political parties promise to hire more doctors and nurses and increase the number of seats at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) to meet the need for health care workers. health in the area — a problem that one hospital president says requires both immediate and long-term action.
The region’s long-standing shortage of healthcare workers has prompted widespread calls for a significant increase in investment in the sector to address local shortages.
Such shortages forced Margaret Cochenour Hospital in Red Lake to close its emergency room for 24 hours in late March due to a shortage of doctors.
Sue LeBeau, the hospital’s president, said the 24-hour closure was “very difficult” for hospital staff and created “a feeling of anxiety” in the community of Red Lake, which recently experienced two wildfires. forest and floods.
‘It was pretty terrifying, actually,’ Ms LeBeau added, noting there was a period of about five hours in which the hospital’s two ambulances were over 200 kilometers away carrying patients. to another establishment.
“It’s something that I think our staff and doctors are still struggling with,” she said.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said it’s been clear for “some time” that northerners don’t have equal access to health care, including doctors and nurses.
To solve the problem, she announced that her party would immediately hire and recruit 300 doctors in northern Ontario, including 100 specialists and 40 mental health practitioners, and train more doctors and health professionals to work in the north by increasing the number of seats and training opportunities at NOSM.
But Ms. Horwath added that the province must also do more to attract healthcare workers — and their families — to northern Ontario by bolstering offerings in areas ranging from education to arts and recreational opportunities.
“We need to make sure that northern communities are places where doctors want to bring their spouses and families. Ensuring that these communities will encourage people to settle there is also part of our commitment,” she said in an interview in Mississauga.
Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca said his party would increase the number of spaces available at NOSM and hire 100,000 new health care workers across the province, including doctors and nurses, over six years.
Mr. Del Duca added that anyone who wishes to pursue a university education in health care and is prepared to practice in underserved, remote and rural communities, including the North, will not have to pay tuition fees if their party is elected.
“We’re going to make it easy for you if you’re willing to go and work in communities that need help,” he said Saturday during a campaign stop in west Toronto.
“It’s very clear and targeted support that will get to the heart of the challenge we face.”
The Progressive Conservatives, seeking re-election, presented a pre-campaign plan to invest $142 million to support nurses’ tuition reimbursement in exchange for services in underserved communities across Ontario and to training more doctors, through expanding places in medical education, with 160 undergraduate places and 295 postgraduate places on offer over the next five years.
The Conservatives also said they would make it easier and faster for health care workers with foreign credentials to start practicing in Ontario by reducing barriers to registration and recognition by health regulatory colleges. .
“(Party Leader) Doug Ford is doing this by adding more nurses, doctors and personal support workers, giving Ontario much-needed hospitals and long-term care beds, and supporting the elderly so they can receive care and stay in the comfort of their own homes longer,” the party said in a statement on Saturday.
The Green Party, meanwhile, has said it will double down on the Northern and Rural Recruitment and Retention Initiative and the Northern Physician Retention Initiative to recruit 230 doctors and specialists. in northern communities and expanding the roles and reach of nurse practitioners as primary health care providers.
Among other promises, the Greens also specified that they would support expanding virtual care options for primary care providers and improve the availability of supports and services in French and Indigenous languages.
Ms. LeBeau hammered that the community of Red Lake “continues to be at risk” and that now is the time to act.
“It will take longer-term solutions like more medical school places, more residency places as well as support for shorter-term solutions like adjunct physicians, whether it happens. act as medical assistants or nurse practitioners,” she added.
“We don’t have time to wait for the system to catch up and educate enough doctors. We can’t,” she concluded.
———
This article was produced with the financial support of the Meta Fellowships and The Canadian Press for News.
–
