Quebec's Bill 11 a 'real slap in the face,' say family doctors

A doctor holds a medical chart. Doctors are calling for tighter restrictions on the sale of sodium nitrite to prevent the average consumer from accessing it. (Pexels)

The Legault government is choosing to go to war with family doctors, says Quebec’s federation of general practitioners, the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ).

On Tuesday, on the first day of public consultations to study Bill 11, FMOQ president Marc-André Amyot declared that family doctors were acting in good faith.

At the heart of the confrontation is the government's desire to go after the list of more than 800,000 Quebecers registered with the access to a family physician program.

Bill 11 includes several provisions aimed at better tracking general practitioners’ schedules.

In the brief he presented on Tuesday, Amyot asked for the bill to be withdrawn, which he says is an "incomprehensible government decision" and an "irresponsible political choice."

The government's "disregard for them with the introduction of Bill 11 is a real slap in the face for all family doctors," he wrote.

Nov. 11, 2021, the date Bill 11 was introduced, will remain a "dark day in the legislative history of medicine in Quebec," he said.

The FMOQ said it recognizes that there is a significant problem with access to a primary care family physician in Quebec. However, it maintains that the solution lies in a negotiated agreement.

Physicians say they proposed a new model last July for registering patients not with one physician, but with groups of physicians, with a view to interdisciplinarity.

Health Minister Christian Dubé brushed it aside in order to introduce an "insidious" and punitive piece of legislation, said Amyot.

“The government is underestimating the extent of the exasperation and discouragement that family doctors are feeling," he warns.

He anticipates consequences for how attractive the profession will be to medical students.

“The government (...) will not make family doctors the scapegoats for the state's negligence in organizing services. (...) Its punitive measures (...) will never engage physicians,” he said.

Asked to comment, Dubé said the family physicians’ strong reaction is a "perfectly normal" reaction to change.

He reiterated that the bill was not about 'punishment' but about 'management'.

"I think we need to reassure people that we have one goal: that every Quebecer has a family doctor," he said.

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Feb. 1, 2022