Hundreds of health care workers and people without a family doctor rallied on the lawns outside the bc legislature on Thursday.
They were there to demand the provincial government take immediate steps to deal with the shortage of family physicians in BC.
The president of Doctors of BC, Dr. Ramneek Dosanjh, joined the rally and warns the government must act quickly.
“It is unacceptable that almost one-million patients in British Columbia don’t have a family doctor.”
Dr. Dosanjh adds that “family doctors save lives, they increase the longevity of healthy humans and we need to recognize that when we are attached to a family doctor we reduce burden to the health care system.”
Dr. Dosanjh says doctors need to focus on patient care instead of administration.
She says critical infrastructure support is needed for doctors’ clinics.
“Very similar to how our Nurse Practitioner colleagues get to operate, they get to spend more time with their patients and they don’t have to worry about overhead, or human resources, or how they’re gonna keep the lights on”
Dr. Dosanjh says the government should lower the overhead costs for clinics, reduce the administrative burden and address feelings of distress or burnout among doctors.
Camille Currie of the group ‘BC Health Care Matters’ says primary health care is in crisis it’s time for the public to demand a solution.
Currie says the government hasn’t provided any evidence it’s addressing the crisis.
