Hearings on Bill 83: Forcing new Quebec doctors to practice in public sector
Posted February 6, 2025 12:32 pm.
Consultations on Bill 83, aimed at curbing the exodus of doctors to private practice, begin Thursday at the National Assembly in Quebec City.
The legislation, tabled on Dec. 3 by Health Minister Christian Dubé, would require new doctors trained at universities in the province to spend the first five years of their practice in the public network.
Since 2020, some 800 of Quebec’s 22,000 doctors have left the public network for private practice, Dubé told a press scrum on Thursday.
He also pointed out that no fewer than 2,300 Quebec-trained doctors are currently practicing in Ontario – and only 500 doctors from Ontario practice in Quebec, he said.
“There’s no doubt that something isn’t working,” said Dubé, promising to listen carefully during the two-day consultations.
“I want to hear what people have to say (…) We’re putting something on the table, but it needs to be improved,” he said.
In December, the Fédération des médecins résidents du Québec (FMRQ) reacted by saying it was concerned “about the new constraints the Quebec government is proposing to impose on doctors at the start of their practice.”
The FMRQ also noted that the bill “seems to have serious consequences for young physicians.”
For its part, the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec “would have hoped that the government would propose measures that truly enhance the value of family medicine, rather than once again proposing measures that, on the face of it, reduce its attractiveness.”
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
