Minister of Health Christian Dubé announced cuts in the general practitioner recruitment system on Monday. Measures aimed at facilitating the settlement of new general practitioners in the regions, while this specialty does not arouse much enthusiasm among students.

At a press conference at the University of Québec in Rimouski, the minister unveiled flexibility in regional medical workforce plans (PREM) to help regions attract more GPs.

These PREMs impose a kind of quota system on the regions in order to allocate new doctors fairly and according to their needs. However, if the goal remains “good” in the eyes of the minister, he admits that the process has stalled over time.

The minister acknowledged that it was “important to change the way we work” to make family medicine more attractive. Christian Dubé says he has worked extensively with medical student associations and the Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec (FMOQ).

First, she proposes giving more autonomy to the regional departments of general medicine to allocate their available posts according to their local priorities. In a press release, the minister insisted on his desire to “bring decision-making back to the field, to the regions”.

Know your responsibilities in advance

The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs also expressed the wish to allocate the specific medical activities (AMP) that a general practitioner must commit to as soon as his employment in a region is fixed.

Parallel to their work in the clinic, general practitioners have to be on call, especially in emergency rooms or in CHSLDs. These AMPs are often assigned after the doctor arrives in a region. We would like these tasks to be the subject of prior agreement from now on.

This new approach aims to allow new doctors to choose the region in which they wish to establish themselves based on their interests, according to the proposed AMPs.

In addition, a new online tool is about to be launched to consolidate GP vacancies across all regions. New doctors can thus better assess the positions offered according to the required tasks. Ultimately, this tool should also be available to medical specialists.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, the President of the Federation of Resident Physicians of Quebec (FMRQ), Dr. Jessica Ruel-Laliberté, the Minister’s desire to simplify the procedure, which has become very cumbersome for a candidate who aspires to a career in the medicine family.

“The official position of our members is that they want a simpler process. [Actuellement], it’s a multi-step process, which is tedious and difficult to understand,” she explains. dr Nevertheless, Ruel-Laliberté remains cautious and hopes that the changes will be implemented this autumn.

The FMRQ would also like candidates to be able to submit applications in more than one region from the first round, when the available positions are announced. No announcement has been made in this regard.

not nearly enough

From the point of view of the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ), these cuts are far from enough to make family medicine attractive. Your President, Dr. Marc-André Amyot recalls sending about twenty possible solutions to the minister.

Additionally, the lack of interest from residents was demonstrated again in the second round results recently announced by the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CARMS).

In the end, 67 general practitioner positions remained unfilled in Quebec. After the first round, 99 positions were open. The second round will have made it possible to fill less than thirty.

“It’s still disastrous! ‘ protests Dr. amyot. “How many specialties?” zero ! He goes on to point out that this number is higher than all other Canadian provinces combined. According to CARMS, 27 spots remain vacant at other Canadian universities, plus six spots at Université de Sherbrooke dedicated to the Moncton region of New Brunswick.

according to dr Amyot remains key to promoting the profession and encouraging candidates from remote regions. The FMOQ advocates awarding medical school places to candidates from different regions, then offering them internships in their region, and finally offering them scholarships, coupled with a commitment to return to practice in their hometown.

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