Gaétan Barrette defends plan to set patient quota for doctors
Parti Québécois Health Critic Diane Lamarre says rules need to be clearer
Health Minister Gaétan Barrette is defending legislation that would force doctors to see more patients.
Barrette wants to impose quotas on doctors as part of a controversial bill at the National Assembly in Quebec City. If they don't meet them, doctors will get a pay cut.
“We have to set in place a set of rules that will make sure that we have proper organization of services, so the public has services," Barrette said Tuesday, on his way into the first day of hearings for the bill.
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The Opposition Parti Québécois said the bill doesn’t include enough information.
"We want the rules of this new bill,” PQ Health Critic Diane Lamarre said.
“We need transparency.”
The Quebec Patients' Committee agrees with the bill and was the first to present at Tuesday’s hearings.
Pierre Blain, the group's director general, said there are a lot of doctors working part time and there should be more working full time.
This committee will hear from about two dozen health groups — including doctors — over the next few weeks.