Wait times for necessary medical care in Quebec dropped significantly in 2018 compared to the year before and are below the national average, according to a new study.
The Fraser Institute survey said the average wait time in Quebec was 15.8 weeks this year, nearly five weeks less than 2017’s 20.6 weeks.
The Canadian average is 19.8 weeks.
The study, which was published on Tuesday, indicated Quebec patients wait longer for neurosurgery (33.9 weeks) and orthopedic procedures (23.8 weeks), while the shortest wait is for oncological operations (3.6 weeks).
Bacchus Barua, deputy director of health policy at the Fraser Institute and co-author of the study, said that while wait times have diminished, there is still much to be done for patients who can wait almost four months to receive necessary treatment.
Yanick Labrie, a Senior Fellow at the institute, said long wait times can increase patients’ suffering, decrease their quality of life and, in worst cases, lead to disability and death.
The study adds that when the institute began tracking Canadian wait times in 1993, the Quebec average was 7.3 weeks, less than half the current average.
Only Ontario and Saskatchewan had shorter wait times than Quebec, both by small margins.
