Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé is deploring what he has described as misinformation after he was accused of wanting to end premiums for “orphan patients.”
An agreement on patient care expires on May 31, and the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) estimates that 900,000 Quebecers currently under the care of Quebec’s family medicine groups (GMF) could lose their family doctors and return to the waiting list.
However, during Thursday’s question period, Dubé stated that claims his government was ready to tear up the agreement were false.
He insisted the government is negotiating with general practitioners to renew the agreement, and is counting on the professionalism of doctors not to abandon their patients.
Under the current agreement, the government pays $120 per person to GMF physicians who take on an “orphan” patient.
— This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 18, 2024.