本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛The Canadian government must immediately address a critical shortage of health care workers, such as doctors and nurses, says an independent advisory panel in a long-anticipated report.
The Health Council of Canada announced Thursday that it would be sponsoring a June 2005 summit in Toronto, to discuss the crisis of staff shortages.
There are more MRI units in Canada, but not enough people trained to operate them, said the Council's chairman, Michael Decter, at a news conference Thursday.
"I don't think anybody should be under any illusions -- there is a shortage, the Health Council is right, and we are dealing with it," Prime Minister Paul Martin said from a Liberal caucus meeting in Fredericton on Thursday.
Martin said the federal government has already committed $41 billion to health care over the next 10 years, some of which will go toward training.
He added: "I think the shortage of doctors, shortage of nurses, shortage of paramedics, is an issue that should have been addressed and there was a view some years ago that perhaps the problem wasn't as serious as it is now."
Dosanjh open to national summit on the shortage
Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said the federal government has given provinces ample money to deal with the shortage.
"One can't argue that the resources aren't there. Yes, the progress is slow, there's no question about that,'' he told Canadian Press in an interview from Davos, Switzerland, where he's attending an international forum.
The minister added that he's open to a national summit on the problem, but it's largely under provincial jurisdiction. He pointed to the federal-provincial health accords of 2003 and 2004, both of which provided funds that provinces can use to train health care workers.
He said enrolment in nursing and medical schools has increased in recent years, but if there aren't enough Canadian graduates: "I think any shortfall can be dealt with by way of the international medical graduates. We need to speed that up."
But the problem must not only be addressed by government leaders, but by stakeholders and members of the medical training community, Decter said on CTV's Canada AM.
"The levers to bring about this change are not held entirely by government and they're certainly not held by health ministers," Decter said.
These recommendations should be reflected in changes to medical training and education, Decter said.
"A very big challenge is that most of the medical students who are in medical schools indicate they are not headed to family medicine, they are headed for the specialties," he said.
Other recommendations from the Council's report
A national electronic patient record -- which makes a patient's information immediately available -- is planned to be implemented by 2020.
But the Council is calling for the plan to be in place by 2010.
The system will make health care services more timely and effective for patients in rural regions, Decter said. The electronic system would also be beneficial in cases that patients are unable to speak for themselves.
Another important issue at hand is the necessary reduction of the health disparities in aboriginal communities, he said. There are startling regional differences, particularly in aboriginal regions such as Nunavut which are primarily nurse-run health communities, Decter said.
But sending medical staff to these areas is an expensive, short-term solution that doesn't resolve the problem, he said.
"We have to train the people that are from those communities, as nurses, and as nurse practitioners and doctors," Decter said. "We have to train Inuit people to look after the Inuit people and I think this applies across the board with aboriginal communities."
Decter pointed out that aboriginal communities were faced with other "profound issues of housing, and employment and education." He said he visited communities "where the teenage suicide rate exceeds the high school graduation rate."
The 27-member Council was created in Dec. 2003 following the recommendations of Roy Romanow's royal commission in 2002. This is the Council's first annual report.
Doctor shortage in Canada
The country's pressing shortage of family doctors made news in 2004 when a Statistics Canada survey reported that more than 3.6 million Canadians didn't have a regular doctor in 2003.
Of the 3.6 million who didn't have a doctor, 2.4 million hadn't bothered to look for one, the Canadian Community Health Survey said.
But 1.2 million couldn't find a doctor at all.
According to The National Physician Survey, which was released Oct. 2004, the shortage is only expected to worsen over the next few years as physicians retire or reduce their working hours to spend more time with their families.
The survey reported that 3,800 doctors were expected to retire in 2005 and 2006.
With files from the Canadian Press更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
The Health Council of Canada announced Thursday that it would be sponsoring a June 2005 summit in Toronto, to discuss the crisis of staff shortages.
There are more MRI units in Canada, but not enough people trained to operate them, said the Council's chairman, Michael Decter, at a news conference Thursday.
"I don't think anybody should be under any illusions -- there is a shortage, the Health Council is right, and we are dealing with it," Prime Minister Paul Martin said from a Liberal caucus meeting in Fredericton on Thursday.
Martin said the federal government has already committed $41 billion to health care over the next 10 years, some of which will go toward training.
He added: "I think the shortage of doctors, shortage of nurses, shortage of paramedics, is an issue that should have been addressed and there was a view some years ago that perhaps the problem wasn't as serious as it is now."
Dosanjh open to national summit on the shortage
Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said the federal government has given provinces ample money to deal with the shortage.
"One can't argue that the resources aren't there. Yes, the progress is slow, there's no question about that,'' he told Canadian Press in an interview from Davos, Switzerland, where he's attending an international forum.
The minister added that he's open to a national summit on the problem, but it's largely under provincial jurisdiction. He pointed to the federal-provincial health accords of 2003 and 2004, both of which provided funds that provinces can use to train health care workers.
He said enrolment in nursing and medical schools has increased in recent years, but if there aren't enough Canadian graduates: "I think any shortfall can be dealt with by way of the international medical graduates. We need to speed that up."
But the problem must not only be addressed by government leaders, but by stakeholders and members of the medical training community, Decter said on CTV's Canada AM.
"The levers to bring about this change are not held entirely by government and they're certainly not held by health ministers," Decter said.
These recommendations should be reflected in changes to medical training and education, Decter said.
"A very big challenge is that most of the medical students who are in medical schools indicate they are not headed to family medicine, they are headed for the specialties," he said.
Other recommendations from the Council's report
A national electronic patient record -- which makes a patient's information immediately available -- is planned to be implemented by 2020.
But the Council is calling for the plan to be in place by 2010.
The system will make health care services more timely and effective for patients in rural regions, Decter said. The electronic system would also be beneficial in cases that patients are unable to speak for themselves.
Another important issue at hand is the necessary reduction of the health disparities in aboriginal communities, he said. There are startling regional differences, particularly in aboriginal regions such as Nunavut which are primarily nurse-run health communities, Decter said.
But sending medical staff to these areas is an expensive, short-term solution that doesn't resolve the problem, he said.
"We have to train the people that are from those communities, as nurses, and as nurse practitioners and doctors," Decter said. "We have to train Inuit people to look after the Inuit people and I think this applies across the board with aboriginal communities."
Decter pointed out that aboriginal communities were faced with other "profound issues of housing, and employment and education." He said he visited communities "where the teenage suicide rate exceeds the high school graduation rate."
The 27-member Council was created in Dec. 2003 following the recommendations of Roy Romanow's royal commission in 2002. This is the Council's first annual report.
Doctor shortage in Canada
The country's pressing shortage of family doctors made news in 2004 when a Statistics Canada survey reported that more than 3.6 million Canadians didn't have a regular doctor in 2003.
Of the 3.6 million who didn't have a doctor, 2.4 million hadn't bothered to look for one, the Canadian Community Health Survey said.
But 1.2 million couldn't find a doctor at all.
According to The National Physician Survey, which was released Oct. 2004, the shortage is only expected to worsen over the next few years as physicians retire or reduce their working hours to spend more time with their families.
The survey reported that 3,800 doctors were expected to retire in 2005 and 2006.
With files from the Canadian Press更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net