Speaking of the medical system, my doctor says.....
By Ray on January 22, 2008 - 7:27am
My doctor, who has been a general practitioner (GP) for going on three decades now, tells me that one of the main problems with the system is that government health authorities have refused to pay doctors a decent rate for hospital visits, house calls, and even office visits in recent times. So most doctors have stopped making house calls, and limit their hospital visits, and
now require an office visit for prescription renewals. I asked "Where do you feel there's a clog in the system?" The answer was: "At the provincial government level. Provincial governments appear to be receiving adequate funding from Ottawa, but this is not being passed along to the people who actually have the responsibility for making the system work. As a result, doctors have
reduced services, waiting lists have increased too much, and there's a shortage of doctors, because young people are reluctant to get into that whole thing. The ones who are graduating are specializing, so that they can earn more, and have more time for themselves. This leaves most people going to clinics, which are great for quick service, but lack the continuity and follow-up of a regular family doctor." - And that's a doctor's perspective on all that.
And I'm glad I asked him about this. We need to hold the politicians' feet to the fire on this, because I think they're feeding us 'BS' about this whole picture. Closing hospitals and cutting funding and thus increasing waiting times and customer dissatisfaction isn't the answer. "Slash Gordon", take note! When I've got an elevated PSA reading and need to see a Urologist for a biopsy of the prostate to check for cancer, I don't want to wait for two or three months. I've been paying my dues into this system ever since 1950, and I deserve better service than this.
My doctor also says that general practitioners these days are almost non-existent. He says that they've been looking for one to join their staff at his clinic for months, and they can't find anyone. They are one short, because a doctor that was with them has left and joined the Navy.
Personally, I doubt that the military pays better than a civilian doctor earns, but I could be wrong. But sea-sickness, exposure, and gunshot wounds are probably a lot easier to treat than some of the problems presented by the vast majority of the unwashed masses...
My phone rang about 9:30 this morning (about 24 hours after I wrote the above) and it was the Urologist's office, saying they've got an opening a week from today, on the 30th.
I did, however, send a link to this blog yesterday to Cheryl, the Letters Editor of the Vancouver Sun, in case she might get any ideas from it. I haven't checked that out yet...
....and here's Vaughn's reply -
"the wheel that squeaks the loudest, etc.
thanks for the note."
Vaughn Palmer
Vancouver Sun Victoria Columnist
vpalmer@direct.ca