Lachine Hospital doctors offering $15,000 incentives for new staff

“We as doctors, and we have financial means, […] we can help, and we’re going to do whatever it takes to help, to get this hospital up and running,” said Dr. Paul Saba, President of the Council of Physicians at Lachine Hospital, where doctors are offering $15,000 incentives to new staff to help get the partially closed emergency room and fully shut ICU, up and running again – from their own pocket.

“If we could come up with [respiratory] therapists for the hospital, we could open up 24/7,” continued Saba. “The doctors are all contributing […], we will provide them $15,000 bonus each for the next two years, that’s a $30,000 package.”

As of November 7, the Lachine Hospital ICU was completely closed and its ER only open 7:30am to 7:30pm. Outside of those hours, ambulances are being redirected to other emergency rooms.

The McGill University Health Centre, that runs the hospital, said it was suffering from a lack of staff, facing a critical shortage of nurses and respiratory therapists – as to why they had to take these measures. Explaining in recent weeks that they are working with the government, but also stating that they’ll continue recruitment campaigns and other services, like elective surgery activity in the operating room, outpatient clinics, laboratories, and more.

Dr. Saba said they requested incentives to help entice staff from the provincial government, but have gotten no response. He and other Lachine Hospital physicians are now putting their money where their mouths.

“We did have [respiratory] therapists, but the government gave bonuses, salary incentives for them if they went downtown.”

In a statement to CityNews, the McGill University Health Centre, says, “The MUHC respects the decrees of the Quebec government. The collective agreements signed by the government and the unions determine all the incentives and their application (different units can have different premiums). […] The nurses and respiratory therapists of Lachine [hospital] receive all the premiums to which they are entitled.”

“They’ve been asking for this for years, and the last few days, when I spoke to the MUHC, the government still hadn’t given this salary increase to our workers,” explained Saba.

Patients outside the Lachine Hospital, who spoke to CityNews, are encouraged by the incentive idea from doctors. One man saying, “I have to congratulate the doctors for doing that. I think that is a great, great, gesture.”

“I’ve come here forever,” says one woman, “I’ve lived here in Lachine for most of my life and my doctor is affiliated with it, so I think the hospital just needs a little more love and care.”

“For the MUHC and the government to oversee this partial shutdown and for us it’s [going] be, it cannot lead to anything good. So, we feel, in a way, that they’re stealing our resources. That they’re dismantling one of Canada’s premiere best hospitals in the country and it’s inexcusable,” said Saba.