Family doctors regret not being part of the crisis unit

On October 26, the Minister of Health, Christian Dube, announced the formation of a crisis unit to improve the situation in emergencies, but surprisingly only one family doctor was invited.

• Read also: Here is Christian Dube’s multidisciplinary team to end the crisis in emergency rooms in Greater Montreal

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George Zaarour, medical director of the medical district’s emergency department, regrets this situation in a letter he sent to Minister Dube, and points to a “significant shortcoming with regard to first-line representation” in the crisis cell committee. .

“We are the solution. We receive 75,000 patients a year. In the emergency room alone, we see 20,000 patients a year who do not have a family doctor. Last year we saw 6,000 patients in our dedicated pediatric clinic,” enumerates Dr. Zaarour.

In addition to these large volumes, the super clinic is able to offer exceptional follow-up, which helps ease the health system in the long run.

“The beauty of the GMF-R or super clinic is that we are able to provide a continuum of care for that patient. We see him in the emergency room, and then after that, if there is a follow-up — if it’s one follow-up, two follow-up, three follow-up — we are able to deliver that solution from In order to avoid the patient must go to the emergency room again,” he explains.

Dr.. Zaarour is communicating with Mr. Dube so that family physicians can be invited to the Crisis Unit Committee.

“We need to be representative. GMF-R, we are a flexible and malleable structure, we are open 12 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. We must be present.

GMF District Médical opened in June 2020 and employs over 50 health professionals.

In two years, they have registered more than 24,000 patients and, in addition to being open to the public, is a panacea for some, because the waiting time to see a doctor is much shorter.

Better come here to the emergency room. Myriam Pelissell Doré, a mother of two, got an emergency pediatric consultation in “five minutes, not even,” she says.