Quebec wants to facilitate the establishment of family doctors in the regions

Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé was in Rimouski on Monday morning to announce relief from the regional medical manpower plans (PREM) to help regions attract more family doctors.

At a news conference at the Université du Québec à Rimouski, the Minister said that regional departments of general medicine would benefit from greater autonomy to allocate their available positions according to their local priorities.

In a news release, the minister said he wanted to "bring decision-making back to the field, to the regions."

The Health Ministry also announced its intention to allocate the specific medical activities (AMP) to which a family doctor must commit, as soon as he or she has been hired in a given region.

In addition to their clinical practice, family doctors are required to work on-call shifts in emergency rooms, residential and long-term care centres, etc.

These AMPs are often assigned after the doctor has arrived in a region. It is now hoped that these tasks will be subject to prior agreement.

The new approach should allow new doctors to choose the region where they want to settle according to their interests, depending on the AMPs offered.

In addition, a new online tool is reportedly about to be launched to consolidate family medicine job postings across regions. This will allow new physicians to better assess the positions available based on the tasks that are required. This tool should eventually be available for specialist physicians as well.

Dubé was accompanied by the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, Maïté Blanchette Vézina, as well as MNA Catherine Blouin.

The Vice-Rector of Studies and Student Affairs at Université Laval, Cathia Bergeron, the Rector of the Université du Québec à Rimouski, François Deschênes, and the CEO of the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux du Bas-Saint-Laurent, Dr. Jean-Christophe Carvalho, also participated in the news conference.

The objective of the PREMs is to distribute the medical workforce throughout the province.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 8, 2023.