Letters sent to patients: doctors' federations divided

The Quebec Federation of Medical Specialists (FMSQ) is criticizing general practitioners sending letters to patients to encourage the public to force the government to back down on its reform of physician remuneration.

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In an interview with Salut Bonjour Weekend, the president of the FMSQ, Dr. Vincent Oliva, dissociated himself from this initiative.

"That is not our approach," he said, adding that he did not wish to comment too much on the negotiations of any federation other than his own.

Mr. Oliva, however, admits that he fears that the public will not distinguish between specialist doctors and general practitioners.

"We dissociate ourselves from this approach because it is not ours. We don't think it's a good idea to involve patients in such an approach," he says.

"We make representations directly with the government," added Dr. Vincent Oliva.

Pressure tactics

On the other hand, the president of the FMSQ defended the decision of specialist doctors not to participate in administrative meetings during working hours and to refuse to help with the implementation of the Digital Health Record.

"From the beginning, we had some reservations about the involvement of doctors in this matter because it requires hundreds of hours and often these hours are done during regular working hours and require that doctors reduce their clinical participation, in other words, reduce consultations with patients sometimes, even having operating rooms closed, so that we can participate in these meetings," explains Dr. Oliva.

"We have to be consistent. So we'll withdraw from these meetings if they conflict with clinical activity. In other words, we'll focus on patients and then, if we have time, we'll participate in these meetings," explains the FMSQ president.

To see the full interview, watch the video above