OTTAWA — A new report says Canadians believe the country’s health-care system needs to be fixed.
The Canadian Medical Association report says people want to see the system transformed to deliver “timely, compassionate and efficient care.”
The paper is based on the CMA’s National Dialogue on Health Care Transformation with Canadians, which was conducted from December to June and was framed around three questions:
• What would you consider good value for health care?
• What do you think Canadians’ responsibilities are, now and in the future, in regard to their health?
• And, do you think the Canada Health Act should be broadened to include things like pharmacare and long-term care?
The dialogue received input in person from nearly 1,500 people who attended six public town-hall meetings.
The town halls were supplemented by over 4,000 online comments captured on the website www.healthcaretransformation.ca.
“Canadians talked emotionally, eloquently and emphatically about the moral imperative to fix the health-care system and to fix it now,” said Dr. Jeff Turnbull, CMA President.
“Online and in person, Canadians said they remain committed to our system of health care and they are ready to participate in transforming it for the future.”
The CMA represents over 74,000 of the country’s medical doctors.
Its mission is to serve and unite the physicians of Canada and be the national advocate, in partnership with the people of Canada, for the highest standards of health and health care.