(Montreal) Quebec is beginning to test the waters in its project to build two private mini-hospitals. The Ministry of Health and Social Services published two calls for interest on Tuesday morning to hear proposals from potential partners.
The first two private mini-hospitals should be built, according to government plans, in the east of Montreal and in the Capitale-Nationale region.
In addition, we learn that the Montreal establishment would have an outpatient clinic specializing in geriatrics while that of Quebec would rely on an outpatient clinic specializing in pediatrics.
The two calls for interest posted online in the Electronic Call for Tenders System (SEAO) are intended to “specify the general conditions, the clinical concept and the terms of the project”, is mentioned in a press release announcing the Steps.
It is also specified that meetings will soon be organized with interested candidates to answer their questions after having read the documents posted online.
In a press release, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, described this first contact as a “significant step” towards his objective of improving access to first-line care.
Remember that the Minister entrusted the reins of this project to his parliamentary assistant, the Member of Parliament for Saint-Jérôme Youri Chassin. The latter claims to want to “identify the conditions for success” making it possible to “reconcile efficiency and innovation”.
Quebec reiterates that this private hospital project, whose care would be fully covered by the public network, is “one of the solutions” to “relieve the pressure on the health network”.
However, this is not the opinion of the spokesperson for Quebec solidaire in terms of health, Vincent Marissal. In his opinion, “the CAQ gives up and abandons the public network”.
He criticizes the government for doing one thing and its opposite by claiming on the one hand to want to bring back nurses who have turned their backs on the network to join private labor agencies, then by pushing them towards future private hospitals.
Union worried
The Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN) also reacted by qualifying the initiative of the government of the Coalition avenir Québec as an “ideological choice”.
The union, which represents nearly 125,000 workers in the health and social services network, believes that this new private incursion into health care will “undermine the public network”. According to the CSN, this project “is not at all in the interests of patients”.
“This is not an addition of the private to the public sector, it is a subtraction of public sector resources which will henceforth be redirected to the private for-profit sector”, denounced the union in a statement attributed to its president Caroline Senneville. .
In summary, the CSN is concerned to see a new exodus of care personnel to private services at a time when the network is suffering from a serious shortage of manpower.
On the other hand, the Montreal Economic Institute (IEDM) applauded the announcement of the publication of calls for interest. This think tank has been promoting private healthcare for many years. Deputy Youri Chassin was its director of research until he made the leap into politics.