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Doctors’ billings in Quebec grew by five per cent last year, more than double the overall increase in spending on health care.

What’s more, the average gross payment per physician in the province rose by more than five times the national increase, according to a new study.

The latest findings by the Canadian Institute for Health Information are likely to add to the chorus of criticism by Quebec’s opposition parties that Health Minister Gaétan Barrette — a radiologist by profession who previously headed the province’s federation of medical specialists — has shown more interest in doctors’ salaries than improving access to health care.

The study noted the number of physicians practising in Quebec climbed by 6.7 per cent from 2012 to 2016. Quebec now boasts more doctors per capita than Ontario, yet observers complain that access to health care and wait times for surgery are worse in Quebec than in the neighbouring province.

The average gross payment per physician in Quebec in 2015-2016 was $325,000. Quebec last year raised total health spending by 2.4 per cent. By comparison, the billings of its doctors rose by an average of almost five per cent. (The national average gross payment per doctor inched up 0.8 per cent.)

Still, Quebec trails Ontario’s average income for physicians, which was $348,000.

Quebec’s opposition parties last week denounced a proposed 10 per cent raise for family doctors in the next three years. The agreementin-principle with the government has not yet been ratified by doctors.

“All the harm done by Gaétan Barrette to the health system, the patients — it was only to be able to pay the debt that it incurred: the remuneration of the doctors,” charged Diane Lamarre, health critic for the Parti Québécois.

Julie White, Barrette’s press attaché, did not comment on the rising income of Quebec doctors. She said the minister has requested that CIHI carry out a study comparing the productivity of family doctors in Quebec with the situation in Ontario.

“As for the question of access, we have always said that we have an adequate number of doctors, but practices need to change,” White added. “That’s why (the government) adopted Bill 20 and reached agreements with the medical federations to improve access.

Geoff Ballinger, manager of physician information for CIHI, said that doctors still earn less in Quebec than the national average, but their incomes have been catching up in the last few years.

The CIHI study found that for the 10th year in a row, the number of doctors in Canada grew more quickly than the Canadian population. Total physician payments rose to $27.5 billion, an all-time high.

Among other findings in the study:

In 2016, there were 243 doctors per 100,000 population in Quebec, up from 234 four years earlier. Quebec’s rate was higher than Ontario’s (220 per 100,000 population) and the national rate (230).

Family doctors represented 50.6 per cent of all physicians in Canada. In Quebec, the rate was 48.5 per cent, the lowest in the country.

Quebec reported the highest proportion of female doctors of any province, at 48.7 per cent. The national rate of female physicians was 40.6 per cent.