Four months after premiers from all over the nation assembled in Victoria to present a unified front of displeasure over what they called a “crumbling” health-care system, Canada’s health ministers are scheduled to meet in British Columbia this week.
Today and tomorrow in Vancouver, the 13 provincial and territorial health ministers are anticipated to meet with Jean-Yves Duclos, their federal counterpart.
It’s the first occasion since 2018 that all of the health ministers from the various levels of government have gathered in person, according to a media advisory from Health Canada.
The meeting comes after Canada’s premiers met in Victoria last July, where they asked Ottawa to boost the Canada Health Transfer, the money each jurisdiction gets for health care, to 35 per cent, up from what they said amounts to 22 per cent.
In response, Prime Minister Trudeau stated that the federal government wanted to ensure that the billions of dollars allocated to the provinces and territories produced “real, tangible outcomes for Canadians,” including decreased wait times and improved services.
With a nationwide awareness campaign that was started last month to highlight “the vital need for a new and sustainable health-care funding partnership with Ottawa,” the premiers have reaffirmed their appeals to support the transfer.
B. C.
The additional funds, according to the province’s health minister Adrian Dix, are required to address nursing and physician shortages, expand access to digital health care, and improve mental health and substance abuse programmes in response to the toxic opioid problem.
Prior to this week’s meetings, the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Nurses Association, and HealthCareCAN, which represents a number of organisations and hospitals, joined forces to urge the health ministers to collaborate on urgent solutions to staffing shortages, burnout, and other systemic ills.
The groups are jointly calling for measures including incentives to retain workers, such as increased mental health supports, as well as a Canada-wide strategy to gather data on the workforce to allow doctors to be licensed more easily wherever they’re most needed. Additionally, they have urged for expanded access to primary care services including virtual appointments.
Health ministers from Canada met in Vancouver amidst a “collapsing” system.
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