Something rotten

Josée Legault

Wednesday, 12 July, 2017 05:00

UPDATE
Wednesday, 12 July, 2017 05:00

Look at this article

There is something rotten in the kingdom increasingly dysfunctional our health-care system and social services. This is by far the biggest Open secret in Quebec. In my column yesterday, I explained the perverse effects of the omnipuissance of Gaétan Barrette, minister responsible for the mess today.

Hypercentralisation, managers disconnected from the real needs in the population, austerity, privatization, and swelling of the remuneration of doctors, home-care missing, vulnerable people have been forgotten, omerta, absence of a counterbalance, etc

History will one day that the reign of the doctor Strip, under the watchful eye of an approver of his prime minister, who is also a physician-run business, will surely have been the worst in recent decades.

University researchers specialised in the field conclude, moreover, the failure of the “reforms” Bar. The minister denies everything. In his perception of things, any critical analysis is wrong, or says it often, too ” negative “.

Denial

When the minister isn’t busy denying the reality, it is the commonplace. This week, 10 of the 19 members of the board of directors of the elephantine McGill university health Centre (MUHC) resign. Reaction of the minister : it will get better after the summer.

The Newspaper reported yesterday, an explosion of mental health problems “among employees of the network of health and social services under the rule of the “reforms” Bar. Reaction of the minister : there were before too.

We speak with him about fears based of the medical staff of the pediatric hospital Sainte-Justine, following its merger forced with the CHUM. Reaction of the minister : no question of going back.

At least according to his own August person, the minister Barrette is always right. In his eyes, those who live the harmful consequences of his or her leadership – medical staff and citizens with the care and services écopent – are always wrong.

Last resort

In front of a wall leak, the real problem, it goes without saying, is political. Under Philippe Couillard, the minister Barrette has arrogated to itself immense powers at the risk and peril of the health system.

However, as the minister does not know the doubt, how to repair the broken pots ? The problem is political, the solution must necessarily be also. In the elections of October 1, 2018, the last resort of Quebec to put an end to this disaster will be the voting booth.

By then, the opposition parties will have to set a concrete vision, humanistic and equitable health care and social services. A vision the exact opposite of the current government. A vision focusing on the rehabilitation of a public system of high quality and accessible.

All parties are betting on education as the first electoral issue, but they are mistaken. Education deserves a reinvestment major, that’s for sure. The error, however, would be to forget that a just society is based on three pillars essential : education, health and social services.

In an aging society like Quebec, these three bases are more inseparable than ever.