Image Credit: Flickr / Province of B.C.

By Doug Collins

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: Our healthcare system is running out of Band-Aids

Oct 9, 2022 | 10:22 AM

EVERY DAY, WE SLAP another Band-Aid on the failing healthcare system, somehow thinking it’s the problem-solver it can never be.

The government has promised a solution but has given us a series of temporary fixes that don’t address the big picture. The City is among many trying to find incentives to bring doctors here.

The idea of incentives is largely a waste of time. We have to start at the beginning. We have to determine why people aren’t going into medicine — whether it be nursing, lab techs or doctors.

Why are there at least 50,000 people in the immediate area without a family doctor? While it is a good move to allow pharmacists to provide some medications without a doctor’s involvement, it is just a Band-Aid.

It’s not just a matter of creating more spaces in post-secondary institutions — although that in itself is a major problem on its own. It’s determining why health care isn’t as attractive as it once was.

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We talk about stress, long hours, lack of facilities and resources, but these don’t become evident until a caregiver has done the job for a while. And so we tell the public last week’s reworked plan for health care will solve the problem over the next five years.

There were a couple of bones in the announcement, like the ability for pharmacists to help out, but mostly it’s a document to buy time — time we don’t have.

There are still people out there who are attracted to medicine. We have to identify them and get them fast-tracked. And we have to find ways to serve rural areas.

The plots in the Hallmark movies, where a doctor comes to a small town, falls in love with the community and someone in it and stays forever, don’t translate to reality.

Band-Aids can help for a while, but only if we’re also working on a multi-step program to rebuild from the ground up. I haven’t seen signs of that happening. And until it does, we will continue to face the reality of a system imploding, with no end to the tragedy in sight.

I’m Doug Collins and that’s One Man’s Opinion.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.