MONTREAL A Canadian Medical Association (CMA) emergency room physician fears postponed operations in Quebec hospitals risk having a snowball effect. To regain the upper hand on waiting lists, the CMA suggests two possible solutions: invest in the health network so that it stops functioning with the bare minimum, and reorganize the list of priorities for pending surgeries. We must act now, insists Dr. Abdo Shabah, who practices at the CISSS de la Monteregie-Centre. The offloading of non-emergency hospital activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic the effect of causing the waiting list for surgeries and screening exams to reach a peak of 140,000 people according to the most recent figures from the Ministry of Health - against 114,000 before the health crisis.
MONTREAL The Centrale des unions du Québec (CSQ) and its school federations have written to Minister of Education Jean-Francois Roberge and his colleague, Minister of Health Christian Dube to urge them to adopt the precautionary principle in relation to the transmission of COVID-19 by aerosol in schools. In a letter dated Friday and also addressed to the Quebec director of public health Horacio Arruda, the unions said they have been calling for improved ventilation in schools for years. We have been calling for decades for action to be taken to ensure better air quality in our schools and centres, but due to austerity policies, we are now under an obligation to open the classroom windows in the middle of winter, which is completely inconceivable, the unions said in their letter.
A day after a meeting between the province’s public health director and opposition parties, Quebec Liberal Party Leader Dominique Anglade said Premier Francois Legault was not made aware of the gravity of COVID-19 before March 9.