Every time I need a doctor I want to leave the country. I have often made this joke, except it’s true. I have been living in Montreal for more than 7 years, and I am still on various family doctors and a gynecologists’ waiting lists. Luckily, I’m a pretty healthy person, so my introduction to the Canadian health system happened when I was pregnant with my first daughter. I couldn’t find a doctor who would agree to follow my child’s development and help me deliver her into the world. After at least a dozen (crying and begging) phone calls, a doctor finally took pity on me and agreed to see me when my baby was already 14 weeks old. As a prospective mother, I went to this appointment all excited, armed with plenty of questions. After almost 5 hours of waiting I was seriously contemplating home birth (and leaving the country). Later I was told that 5 hours is actually not bad, when the average wait is closer to 6 hours. My children and I have to be pretty sick for me to step foot in a clinic, or worse – a hospital.
So instead, on my annual visits back home to Hungary, my grandma in Pécs lines up all the doctors I need and I visit them on an afternoon. They are always surprised to welcome a patient from a supposedly wealthy country like Canada. Their clinics are a bit run down and could use a fresh coat of paint, but the care is first rate. Rest of the time I do my utmost best to never get sick. I eat a healthy, balanced vegetarian diet, I practice yoga daily, I run, I swim, and with the arrival of winter I stock up on ginger, garlic and oregano oil.
My sister in law, who is a doctor, tells me there is a shortage in doctors and I believe her. But I have never seen such an absurd, ineptly organized system to treat patients in need. “Triage”, “pre-triage” - you’ll be first seen by a nurse, who would diligently take all your important information that the doctor would then barely glance at, and ask of you again.
Then there is the issue of birth centres. Waiting lists at Montreal’s only two existing birthing centres are so long, with only less than 30 per cent of hopeful expectant mothers lucky to be able to get a spot (that is if they are quick to pick up the phone with the positive pregnancy test still fresh in their hands, or while still working at conceiving!) It is obvious that midwives are in high demand, yet the petition for more birth centres (to accommodate the already trained midwives awaiting work and all those hippy mums wanting to have a natural birth) has been going on for more than 10 years, meeting with the stubborn resistance of the Health Ministry. Surely these midwives would help ease the burden on Quebec’s overcrowded hospitals and overworked obstetricians in pregnancies that are low risk and don’t require medical intervention. But Quebec has a different logic. A logic I obviously don’t understand.
On a more positive note, faced with a real emergency, you’d be fast tracked and handled with great efficiency, whether you’re rich or poor, because health care in Canada is “free”. But unless you are practically dying, you better have a nice grandma in an Eastern European country to book you your annual check up appointments. And in the meanwhile - cross your fingers and hope to never be sick.
So instead, on my annual visits back home to Hungary, my grandma in Pécs lines up all the doctors I need and I visit them on an afternoon. They are always surprised to welcome a patient from a supposedly wealthy country like Canada. Their clinics are a bit run down and could use a fresh coat of paint, but the care is first rate. Rest of the time I do my utmost best to never get sick. I eat a healthy, balanced vegetarian diet, I practice yoga daily, I run, I swim, and with the arrival of winter I stock up on ginger, garlic and oregano oil.
My sister in law, who is a doctor, tells me there is a shortage in doctors and I believe her. But I have never seen such an absurd, ineptly organized system to treat patients in need. “Triage”, “pre-triage” - you’ll be first seen by a nurse, who would diligently take all your important information that the doctor would then barely glance at, and ask of you again.
Then there is the issue of birth centres. Waiting lists at Montreal’s only two existing birthing centres are so long, with only less than 30 per cent of hopeful expectant mothers lucky to be able to get a spot (that is if they are quick to pick up the phone with the positive pregnancy test still fresh in their hands, or while still working at conceiving!) It is obvious that midwives are in high demand, yet the petition for more birth centres (to accommodate the already trained midwives awaiting work and all those hippy mums wanting to have a natural birth) has been going on for more than 10 years, meeting with the stubborn resistance of the Health Ministry. Surely these midwives would help ease the burden on Quebec’s overcrowded hospitals and overworked obstetricians in pregnancies that are low risk and don’t require medical intervention. But Quebec has a different logic. A logic I obviously don’t understand.
On a more positive note, faced with a real emergency, you’d be fast tracked and handled with great efficiency, whether you’re rich or poor, because health care in Canada is “free”. But unless you are practically dying, you better have a nice grandma in an Eastern European country to book you your annual check up appointments. And in the meanwhile - cross your fingers and hope to never be sick.
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