Quebec adds 280 more doctors, but four regions will lose family doctors

Quebec is continuing to expand its medical workforce, with 280 more doctors added to the health network over the past year, according to data from the Collège des médecins (CMQ) published on Thursday morning.

As of Dec. 31, 2023, there were 26,001 doctors registered throughout the province.

Of these active physicians, 47 per cent are family doctors and 51.4 per cent are specialists.

Approximately 1.5 per cent hold a permit issued under the Quebec-France agreement.

The data also show that around one hundred more doctors than in 2022 are inactive, meaning they’re on sick leave, sabbatical, parental leave, retired or have temporarily left Quebec for specialized training.

In total, 11.9 per cent of doctors were inactive in 2023.

Almost all the regions of Quebec have made staff gains, with Montreal having the most, with 33 new family doctors and 63 specialists.

Quebec City was second with 38 more doctors, followed by the Laurentians with the addition of 29 doctors.

Also, the number of physicians practising outside Quebec remained stable at 457.

Four regions lost family doctors in 2023.

Lanaudière lost the most, with eight fewer family doctors.

Four family doctors have left Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean has lost three and Centre-du-Québec lost two.

On the other hand, there are still more women in the profession, representing 55 per cent of active doctors.

This trend is set to continue, since 56 per cent of resident doctors are women, and they account to 66 per cent among medical students.

CMQ data also show that the vast majority (85.7 per cent) of doctors are graduates from Quebec, with a small portion (3.6 per cent) coming from elsewhere in Canada and 0.4 per cent from the United States.

Approximately one physician in ten is a graduate of another country.

This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews.