Dear Dr. Hoskins, Minister of Health and Long Term Care, I find it interesting that you feel that this unilaterally imposed 2.65% cut to physician salary won’t have an impact on quality of care or access to services. And when you factor in the cost of living, it ends up being an even heftier cut. If the government wonders why doctors are leaving the province or the country to work in the US or beyond, they need only look to decisions like this one. With these new cuts, how many talented doctors will choose to work elsewhere? Or perhaps worse, how many young intelligent Canadians will decide to pick another career when they learn that new doctors are faced with one-sided financial clawbacks from the government…that is assuming they are even able to find a job in their given specialty in the first place. A couple of years ago, it was reported that 1 in 6 doctors finishing their residencies in Canada could not find a job. Medical school tuition in Canada now hovers around $20,000 or more per year. PER YEAR. And that is only tuition….never mind the cost of books, medical equipment, and normal costs of living - housing, food, etc. And then after accruing all of that debt, medical students have a minimum 2 years (and often significantly longer) of residency looming ahead of them. During these years which, up until very recently, included call shifts of 30 hours or more 1 day out of 4, residents make less than minimum wage. All this at a time when many residents are trying to start a family and balance the time commitments and costs of doing so. I can’t even begin to count the number of nights I missed tucking my girls into bed, or weekends that were given up so that I could be at work. I have missed taking them to more swimming lessons, gym classes, and birthday parties than I care to remember because I was working or on call. It was a sacrifice that I made because I loved (and still do love) my job. And yes, after all the years of training and after finally entering the work force (at age 33!), I am paid well. But I deserve to be. And another thing…when you report that the average physician salary in Ontario is $360,000, that’s more than a little bit of deception isn’t it? Out of that average “salary” comes the cost of overhead and office salaries, which means that many many many Ontario doctors make significantly less than what you have alluded to. Yes, there is a budget that we need to try to work within, but I don’t see you or other MPPs offering to take a cut to your salaries or benefits too to help balance the books. Signed, a hard working Ontario doctor End rant.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 22:54:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015