May

It is altogether unsurprising that Dr Day would choose to use his bully pulpit to argue for privatization of medical care in such hyperbolic partisan terms, as he is positioned better than most other physicians to personally benefit from such an arrangement [A healthy constitution. BCMJ 2013;55:70].

After reading through the BCMJ, the CMAJ, and the esteemed Vancouver Sun this Saturday morning, and noticing additional coverage in the Sun and on CBC radio through the week, I have a few observations.

From the public point of view, docs may be sounding whiny. As family practitioners in Canada we are in a privileged position and may need to up the ante by initiating change, starting within our own ranks.

“Pharmacists pitch cure for ailing health care budgets,” read the front page headline of our local daily newspaper. The article that followed summarized the BC Pharmacy Association’s (BCPA’s) proposal to government on “staking out a bigger role in health care.” They plan to build on their experience administering 200 000 flu shots in the last year and dispensing emergency contraception without a prescription. 

I learned to be a doctor in hospitals. For my generation, there was none of today’s going out into the community to see what it’s like—the patients came to us and our superiors told us what to do. So when I became a doctor, like many of my colleagues I stayed in the hospital. And stayed. 

Vaccines stand out as one of the most cost-effective health in­terventions in modern medicine.[1] It is estimated that immunizations have saved more Canadian lives over the last 50 years than any other health program.1 Vaccines are credited with reducing the death rate from infections in Canada to only 5%[2]—a far cry from the situation 100 years ago when infectious diseases were the leading cause of death.