Quality of much advertise health care in Canada is a burning and debatable issue. I am sure that at Canadiandesi.com prospective immigrants also wants to know about the quality of our health care system.

As I mentioned before I am working in this industry so I know the quality of our health care services from inside out but personal view of any person does not carry much weight and often get very swift reaction based on member’s personal experience and views, which do not represent clear and unbiased picture of any issue.

Here I gathered some information about Canadian Health Care System from the Canadian media. I would request you to read following articles, it is worth spending sometime on these articles. I will post some more articles in near future in same thread. Please feel free to express your views:

Thanks and regards.
Biomed

Feb. 25, 2004. 09:39 PM

Children's hospital must turn kids away


HAMILTON - McMaster Children's Hospital has turned away at least seven critically ill kids this month because of a lack of intensive care beds.
Doctors say it is now common in the winter months for the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) to fill up, leaving them no choice but to send the sickest kids from Hamilton, Burlington and surrounding areas to other cities for care.

In fact, this month has been better than most. Usually, the hospital turns away nine to 23 kids a month in the winter or 20 to 40 per cent of those needing intensive care.

The children, who range in age from a few days old to 17 years old, are sent to Toronto, London, Ottawa or even Buffalo.

"It's outrageous," said Dr. Peter Steer, president of the children's hospital.

It's also dangerous, says the medical director of the PICU.

"There is no question the first 24 hours of critical illness are the most dangerous," said Dr. Rob Lloyd. "You want to get the patient to an ICU as soon an humanely possible."

He added that it's extremely stressful and difficult for families to have to travel long distances for care. "Going two to three hours away is something they don't want to do when they're going through the worst thing they ever gone through in their lives," said Lloyd.

McMaster is negotiating with the province to build a new $20 million PICU. The hospital already has the 50 per cent it is expected to pay thanks to a donation from entrepreneur Michael G. DeGroote.

Health Minister George Smitherman refused to answer questions about whether the province will foot the other half of the bill when he was in Hamilton earlier this week to announce new health care funding.

"I'm not here to make announcements other than the four I just made. Thanks very much," he said. He walked away as he was asked if the PICU was a priority for his government.

McMaster is the second busiest children's hospital in the province, but is the only one without a separate PICU or emergency room. Both share their facilities with adults.

There are only five intensive care beds for children, located in the adult intensive care unit. Four more beds are often available in another adult unit that cares for less urgent patients in a different part of the hospital.

The new unit would be separate from adults, especially designed for kids and have 14 beds.

"The harsh reality is kids get sick and suffer very, very different diseases than adults," said Steer. "If you don't have staff and facilities dedicated to children, you potentially miss these things."

"It's a desperate need. We're really a bit behind."

He said a new PICU would provide better care, dramatically reduce the number of children sent to other cities and help recruit and retain staff at a time of national shortages.

The children's hospital has had six openings for doctors for the last nine months that Steer says are difficult to fill with the current state of the PICU and emergency room.

Compounding difficulties with an an inadequate children's ICU are problems bringing children to McMaster when they are referred here.

McMaster can't afford to transport critically ill patients to the hospital around the clock. Its team of specially-trained nurses and respirologists is only available half the time to go to other hospitals or communities to bring sick kids to McMaster.

That means the children have to wait until the team is available, be brought to McMaster by doctors from their own community who don't have the same level of expertise and are needed at their own hospitals, or go to another hospital.

"There's not an appropriately resourced or funded team anywhere in the province," said Steer.




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Access to health care deteriorating, poll suggests


CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA (CP) - Most Canadians believe access to health care has worsened during the last couple of years, suggests a poll commissioned by the Canadian Medical Association.
Two thirds of those polled said their families had to wait longer for medical service in the last year than they thought was reasonable.

Results of the Ipsos-Reid poll suggest the federal reinvestment in health care in recent years has not alleviated the perceived crisis in medicare.

"Waiting for health care is literally making Canadians sick and tired," CMA president Sunil Patel said Wednesday at a news conference.

"Canadians have told us their health-care system has not improved despite a royal commission . . . a six-volume report from a Senate committee, two federal-provincial-territorial health accords and a reinfusion of money into the system."

A large majority of those polled were concerned about long waits for specialists (75 per cent), emergency room services (74 per cent) and diagnostic services such as MRIs (73 per cent).

Surprisingly, only 22 per cent thought access to family doctors had grown worse. Various reports have suggested there is a critical shortage of family doctors.

Seven per cent of those polled said their condition deteriorated during the wait for service, and two per cent said the delay caused a death in their household.

Prior to becoming prime minister, Paul Martin advocated personal care guarantees to ensure maximum waiting times for medical procedures. It's not clear whether the government intends to pursue that idea.

The CMA, which represents Canada's doctors, is calling on Ottawa to invest $1 billion over five years to bring more doctors, nurses and technicians into the health system.

The money would be used in part to increase the number of post-graduate training positions in hospitals. The current shortage of such positions is seen as a major obstacle to the entry of new doctors into practice.

The CMA also wants Ottawa to eliminate the GST paid by the health-care system. It estimates this would produce another $200 million annually.

Patel said he supports the recommendation of the Romanow commission, which has been echoed by premiers, that Ottawa increase its share of health funding to 25 per cent. The current share is estimated to be in the range of 16 per cent to 19 per cent.

The Ipsos Reid poll, is based on a phone survey of 1,500 adults and is believed accurate to within plus or minus 2.5 per cent 19 times out of 20.

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"Change before you have to" : Jack Welch

I had wanted to post the same thing in my thread titled 'it happens only in India,...no...no, in Canada too.

It becomes our moral duty to enlighten would be immigrants about the problems of Canadian life too so they can make a calculated and educated decision when migrating, and come better prepared to face the life in Canada.

The immigration consultants and perhaps the Canadian authorities have done a lot to paint a very rosey picture about Canada which is not fully true and we should give both the good and the bad experiences/facts about Canada to educate other desis.

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If we can unite, we can be the greatest!

Banjara, I do appreciate your concern. I too feel that it is my moral duty to let everyone know the issues we have in Canada. Everyone knows good things about Canada but for a well informed decision one must see another side of Canada too.

Keep it up Buddy!

Thanks and regards.
Biomed

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"Change before you have to" : Jack Welch

Are OTC products available easily ie medicines for fever, Cough cold allergy etc across the counter and without prescriptions. Drugs like Crocin/Disprin etc are used fairly regularly in India. given that health care for even serious diseases takes time , how are common ailments handled ? Does one have to wait for a couple of hrs in case your 6 year old son has high fever or severe stomach ache ?

Is it advisable to carry your own medication (Crocin/Disprin/Brufen/Avil etc) to cover atleast the first initial months in canada.

Given that we would be (Family of 4 with 2 small kids) , moving from a warm country to a cold country , what are the precautions we must take in terms of medications etc.

Rajiv

Rajiv,
Dont go by just a cpl of posts to the list. There is truth in what the posts say but that does not mean that such incidents will happen to you. From *my experience* it is not as bad as the articles will have you believe.

I have 2 kids, born here, the oldest being 6 and I dont have any problem whatsoever getting them medical attention when needed. My son has needed medical intervention when he was just 4 mths old and he was promptly addmitted without the least delay. Anyone with small children know that smaller kids are more prone to infections and my kids are no exception. I was never even once unhappy with the medical service for my kids or me in Canada.
The thing is to trust the triage nurse who is the first one who will assess the seriousness of the child. Depending on the childs seriousness they are looked after or treated. The more serious cases are looked after first...and I like it that way. There maybe wait, like I once(only) had to wait 10 hrs at the hospital...its difficult as a parent(after all anything that hurts our child affects us)...but as it turned out my daughter miraculously recovered from her stomach ache during the wait and insisted on going home. I had to go to the hospital due to the fact that my famlily doctor was unavailable(night)...however, whenever my kids have had a fever for more than a cpl of days...they always get an appointment with the pediatrician.

I'm a bit lost as to the cost of the common medications(the wife takes care of that), but it is probably cheaper there. They are also readily available here.

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Quote:

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Orginally posted by Rajiv M

Are OTC products available easily ie medicines for fever, Cough cold allergy etc across the counter and without prescriptions. Drugs like Crocin/Disprin etc are used fairly regularly in India. given that health care for even serious diseases takes time , how are common ailments handled ? Does one have to wait for a couple of hrs in case your 6 year old son has high fever or severe stomach ache ?

Is it advisable to carry your own medication (Crocin/Disprin/Brufen/Avil etc) to cover atleast the first initial months in canada.

Given that we would be (Family of 4 with 2 small kids) , moving from a warm country to a cold country , what are the precautions we must take in terms of medications etc.

Rajiv

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A Proud Indian Canadian

I notice that almost no one in Ontario has nice things to say about health system, including people who work in the health care system there. BL was the only poster who mentioned that he had one good incident.

The health system here in Quebec is slightly different from what I remember in Ontario, however it has never let us down. I have not heard of any horror stories from families we know either. One of the reasons maybe that we have the World famous childrens hospital downtown that is really good with their services.

It'll be nice to hear from the folks from places like Alberta and BC with real-life accounts of their experiences with the medical system too.

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