(Jocelyne Richer/ The Canadian Press) — The anticipated exodus of aging doctors has already started and will increase in the months and years to come, making access to a family doctor even more precarious, of which 20% of Quebecers are deprived.
In this context, everything indicates that the commitment made by François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) in 2018 to provide a family doctor to all Quebecers before the end of this mandate will appear on the table of broken promises.
The numbers speak for themselves. In Quebec, one in four doctors is over 60 years old. There are exactly 2,322 active physicians aged between 60 and 65, not counting 3,147 others over 65. According to the most recent statistics from the College of Physicians, Quebec also has 1,281 active physicians in their seventies and 164 in their eighties or nineties. (…)