Quebec doctors come out against proposed pay increases

At least 200 doctors and residents in Quebec are asking the provincial government to backtrack on plans to give them and other physicians substantial pay hikes.

In an open letter, they say the increases are particularly shocking given that other health-care workers such as nurses and clerks face difficult working conditions.

The letter, which was signed by general practitioners, specialists and residents, comes at a time when many nurses are complaining about excessive workloads.

Isabelle Leblanc, president of the group behind the letter, said nurses, orderlies and other employees in the health-care system are working under awful conditions.

“Basically, the amount of money that the Health Department has to run the system is finite,” she said in an interview Monday.

“There’s only a specific amount of money and not more, and the more you give to the physicians, the less you give to workers or to improve access (to the system).”

Leblanc admitted it was a bit unusual for doctors to say they don’t want more money.

“But I don’t think it’s that unusual for people to say ‘the workplace we work in needs more money, put it there and don’t put it in our pockets’,” she said.

“We think it’s going to help patients a lot more if the money is injected in the system, and not into the pockets of the physicians.”