Thousands of people are expected at Montreal’s Bell Centre Sunday for a rally organized by Quebec’s medical federations calling for the suspension of the provincial government’s Bill 2.
The event brings together the Federation of Quebec Medical Students (FMEQ), the Federation of Quebec Medical Residents (FMRQ), the Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec (FMOQ), and the Federation of Medical Specialists of Quebec (FMSQ), all of whom oppose the legislation passed under closure on Oct. 25.
The law changes how doctors are paid, imposes performance targets, and threatens penalties for non-compliance.
The FMOQ, FMSQ, and FMEQ have launched legal challenges against it.
Doctors and medical students are expected to gather at the Bell Centre starting at 2 p.m. The FMSQ says more than 10,000 tickets have been distributed for the event.
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This isn’t the first show of opposition to Bill 2, last Saturday, about a thousand people rallied in front of the National Assembly in Quebec City.
In response to mounting criticism, Health Minister Christian Dubé announced Tuesday that two provisions of the law would be suspended.
The government will continue, until further notice, to pay a bonus to medical specialists for first consultations, a payment that was set to be abolished and redistributed.
It will also maintain the 30 per cent supplement given to family doctors in group practices to cover administrative costs.
However, the FMOQ said it will only return to negotiations if the province follows the College of Physicians’ recommendation and fully suspends the implementation of Bill 2.
The federation is also demanding the removal of performance indicators that encourage “fast-food medicine,” the elimination of patient colour coding, and guarantees of sufficient staffing to improve access to care.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
