It’s no secret Canada’s public health care system is failing. One in six Canadians does not have a family doctor. In Newfoundland, that number is one in four.

“Family medicine in Newfoundland and Labrador is facing a crisis due to physician shortages, closures of rural emergency departments, and a workforce struggling with increasing demands and mounting overhead pressures,” CBC reported NLMA president Dr. Kris Luscombe writing in a letter to members last spring.

This is occurring despite the provincial government budgeting $3.4 billion for health care in 2022 (the 2023 budget is expected to drop soon) — almost 40 percent of the province’s spending — and pledges to
improve primary health care, post-secondary nursing programs, emergency services, addressing social determinants and ensuring improved services.

I’ve attempted to corral as much information as I can for local government perusal and encourage local Councils to share their views with their peers to develop common strategies that can be delivered to senior levels of government.

Newfoundland’s local governments have a key role to play in resolving the health care crisis. The collective voice must be heard.