MONTREAL -- More than 3,000 Quebec doctors and medical specialists will be redeployed to work in Quebec's long-term care facilities for seniors, which have been hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic in recent weeks.
The 3,000 doctors - including 2,300 medical specialists - will join some 2,000 family doctors already assigned to the residences, or CHSLDs, many of which have seen COVID-19 outbreaks and resulting deaths, the government announced Monday.
The doctors will receive training specific to the needs of CHSLD patients before beginning their 4-to-7 day rotations at the residences to which they will be assigned.
Re-assignment lists will pair doctors in a given region with facilities in that region based on urgent need and other operational requirements, the Quebec health department said, adding that interactive software has also been put in place to facilitate this twinning process.
Last week, Quebec Premier Francois Legault and Health Minister Danielle McCann issued urgent pleas to Quebec physicians and medical specialists to help out in the province's hard-hit CHSLDs.
An agreement was subsequently reached with Quebec medical specialists that will see them paid $211 an hour for their work at the CHSLDs.
The health department also announced Monday that all non-urgent medical procedures will be postponed for the next two weeks to allow for the redeployment of doctors to CHSLDs.
Urgent and semi-urgent surgeries, as well as cancer treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy treatments, will continue, the health department said.
