QUEBEC CITY -- François Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) is far from fulfilling its 2018 commitment to match all Quebecers with a family doctor.

The CAQ says its objective is now to increase the percentage of the population registered with a general practitioner from 81 to 83 per cent by the end of this year.

In January 2018, about 400,000 Quebecers were waiting to be matched with a family doctor.

This figure has almost doubled in the last three years, reaching 700,000 by the end of 2020, the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) claims.

"Not only are we not moving forward, but we are moving backwards on (...) access to family doctors," said Marie Montpetit, the Liberal critic on health, during the budget review. "How does the minister of health intend to achieve the objectives his government committed itself to?"

Montpetit adds she receives emails and calls "daily" from Quebecers looking for a family doctor.

She says she's surprised because she believes the situation had greatly improved under the former Liberal government, between 2014 and 2018.

"What happened? Quebecers understand that we are still in the third wave," replied Health Minister Christian Dubé, insisting he hasn't lost sight of his target. "Fortunately, telemedicine, the practice of consulting a doctor by phone, has proved its worth during the pandemic."

MEDICAL TRIVAGO?

In the meantime, Dubé explains he reached an "important" agreement with the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ) two weeks ago concerning the 800 or so family medicine groups (FMG).

When their contracts are renewed, they will commit to seeing patients with or without a family doctor within 36 hours.

"All doctors' appointments in the FMGs will be placed online in a "hub," much like Trivago," the minister explained. "You want a hotel room, you go to Trivago and they refer you to different hotels according to your needs. It's a bit the same with the hub. If you want an appointment with a doctor, you can go to this hub and it will refer you to the clinic closest to your home."

Dubé adds this will allow the government to work with the family medicine groups while it matches as many Quebecers to a family doctor as possible.

The majority of the 800 FMGs are set to be integrated into the system by December.

Dubé says he also wants to increase admissions to medical schools "quite significantly" to meet the challenges of an aging population.

As for the current ratio of 55 percent trained general practitioners to 45 per cent trained specialists, "we will review the percentage," he said without giving further details.

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 5, 2021.