Quebec bill to force new doctors to work in public system for 5 years – or risk huge fines

New doctors trained in Quebec universities will have to spend the first five years of their practice in the public network.

Those who want to go to practice in the private sector, in another province or elsewhere in the world as soon as they finish their studies in Quebec, will be exposed to fines of up to $200,000 per day.

On Tuesday, Health Minister Christian Dubé introduced Bill 83, “An Act to promote the practice of medicine in the public health and social services network.”

He had already announced his intentions to legislate on the matter, saying he had observed an upward trend in doctors leaving for the private sector. The number of doctors working exclusively in the private sector has increased by 70 per cent since 2020.

Dubé pointed out that training a doctor costs between $435,000 and $790,000, including residency. According to him, since the province funds the training of doctors in Quebec, the population has the right to have access to the care for which it pays.

Earlier this month, the Collège des médecins had set out its own principles regarding the private sector in health care, in which it requested in particular that “the expansion of the private sector in health care be suspended immediately.”

On Tuesday, all Opposition parties said they were in favour of the bill.

“We see it in a positive light,” said Liberal health critic André Fortin.

“We’re going to look at it with great openness,” added Guillaume Cliche-Rivard of Québec solidaire.

“It’s a contractual issue,” according to PQ MNA Joël Arseneau. “We pay for part of your studies. In exchange, you have to be accountable. So you have years of service to offer.”

A spokesperson for Dubé said last month that 400 of the 2,536 doctors who completed their studies between 2015 and 2017 have left Quebec for other jurisdictions.

There are currently 2,355 doctors trained in Quebec practising in Ontario, including 1,675 who attended McGill University.

Tabled at the very end of the session, Dubé’s bill will not be studied before the end of January 2025.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews