Doctors In Canada Are Unhappy That They Are Getting Salary Increments
Yes. They're protesting against a pay raise, not a pay cut.
By Tang Ruxyn — 08 Mar 2018, 07:26 PM
You might find this hard to believe, but doctors in Canada are unhappy that they are being given pay raises
It is not just one or two, but hundreds of them have signed a public petition, voicing their protest against their own pay raises.
The public petition that was started by a group known as Médecins Québécois Pour le Régime (MQRP) representing Quebec doctors and advocates for public health, has received more than 700 supporters signatures so far.
These supporters are made of up general practitioners, specialists, resident medical doctors, and medical students.
"We, Quebec doctors who believe in a strong public system, oppose the recent salary increases negotiated by our medical federations," the letter reads.
The Standard reported that as part of a deal reached last month, Quebec's 10,000 medical specialists will see their annual salary rise by 1.4% each year, from CAD4.7 billion to CAD5.4 billion in 2023.
The doctors are actually protesting for a very noble reason. They want the money used for their raises to be returned to the Canadian public health system.
"These increases are all the more shocking because our nurses, clerks and other professionals face very difficult working conditions, while our patients live with the lack of access to required services because of the drastic cuts in recent years and the centralisation of power in the Ministry of Health," the group said in the letter, CBNC reported.
In their letter, they urged the government to instead redistribute the resources used on their raises on supporting their underpaid and overworked colleagues and on patient care.
"We, Quebec doctors, are asking that the salary increases granted to physicians be canceled and that the resources of the system be better distributed for the good of the health care workers and to provide health services worthy to the people of Quebec."
A report by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) last month cited data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, which revealed that specialists in Quebec make, on average, CAD403,537 (about RM1.2 million) a year.
While doctors are said to be handsomely paid in Quebec, nurses are struggling and their performances are affecting the quality of healthcare there
The Washington Post reported that a nurses union in Quebec wants the government to address the ongoing issue in which nurses are being exhausted by heavy workload. The union has been pushing for the government to implement a law that would put a limit on the number of patients a nurse could see.
It was learned that MQRP voiced similar concerns earlier in February, as "the chronic lack of staff and the fatigue caused by repeated overtime, sometimes mandatory, for lack of replacement of the team, have an impact on the safety of patient care".
