April 11, 2023

Mending Canada's neglected healthcare system

topic:	Health and Sanitation
located:	Canada
editor:	Karan Anand

In July 2022, the respective heads of Canada’s 13 provinces unanimously called upon Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to address their concern over what they believed was a “crumbling” healthcare system. They cited shortages of healthcare workers and a lack of coordination between the federal and provincial governments as the primary reasons behind the healthcare crisis plaguing Canada. 

Since then, the situation has only worsened. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing challenges to Canada’s healthcare system, resulting in acute staff shortages across the country. The resulting increased workload has also caused exhaustion and burnout among healthcare workers, leading to increased mental health issues, according to a report submitted in March 2023 to Canada’s House of Commons by a Standing Committee on Health. 

Staffing and funding problems have significantly increased the waiting time for Canadians to receive treatment in hospitals. According to a 2022 study by the Fraser Institute, the median waiting time for Canadians to receive treatments at hospitals was 27.4 weeks, up from 25.6 weeks in 2021. 

This has had devastating impacts on Canadians and their right to life. Last month, a patient died while waiting for treatment at the biggest hospital in Manitoba province. Before her, another patient, Alisson Holthoff, died of a cardiac arrest while waiting for over seven hours to receive treatment at a hospital in Nova Scotia in December 2022. In fact, emergency room deaths in Nova Scotia increased by 10 percent in 2022. 

The standing committee, in its report, has offered several short and long-term recommendations to the House of Commons to revive Canada’s failing healthcare system. 

The primary recommendation suggested a framework in the form of a “Pan-Canadian Health Human Resource'' to improve the coordination between federal, provincial and territorial governments. At present, provincial and territorial governments are responsible for the management and delivery of healthcare services, and the federal government provides funding and sets the national standard. The recommendation calls for increased involvement by the federal government in delivering healthcare services. 

The report also offered multi-fold suggestions to address the staffing shortage. It recognised Canada’s need to recruit internationally-trained healthcare workers and suggested streamlining and simplifying the process to do the same, including providing more residency positions for international medical graduates. 

Several experts, including the President of Canadian Medical Association (CMA), have mentioned the need for a "pan-national licensure," which will allow doctors to practice across Canada with fewer regulations. At present, each Canadian province has its own set of regulations, which act as a barrier for doctors willing to practice outside of their provinces. 

To support the overburdened health workers, a Pan-Canadian Mental Health strategy should be adopted to improve their mental wellness, which has taken a toll due to the pandemic. According to a report by CMA, 59 percent of physicians have said that their mental health has worsened since the onset of the pandemic, with 56 percent blaming increased workloads. 

Lastly, there is also a need for a Pan-Canadian health data strategy to facilitate improved collection and sharing of work-force data of the healthcare sector, which would allow the government to make well-informed policy decisions in the future. Facing a shortage of health workers, Canada cannot plan for supply needs without adequately collecting data on demographics, previous activity and practice location. 

The Canadian government has taken a welcome first step in addressing the health crisis by making bilateral funding commitments in the federal budget for 2023-24. However, as Senator F. Gigi Osler wrote, “more than money is required to solve Canada’s health care woes.” The federal government needs to devise a comprehensive nation-wide health plan to pull the country out of its present situation.

Image by Graham Ruttan

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