The Burst Bubble

Upon landing in Canada we thought; “Life has never been better!”. Who would have thought that education could be free? Back home even going to kindergarten cost an arm and a leg! What about healthcare, you ask? If you were lucky enough to find a Doctor for your kidney transplant, his fee to perform the surgery would be enough to cover the purchase of a third kidney for spare use! So how could we “pay” for a blood test here just by a simple swipe of a plastic card? It all seemed absurd yet amazing at the same time.

Of course, at the time, I was young and did not understand the tax system, however, when I did grow up, the small percentage I paid on top  of my purchases seemed like a minor price to pay for all the resources to which we had a freedom of access. Yet, I also started noticing people complaining about high taxes not measuring up to these promised resources.. Obviously, upon hearing these statements such as; “I waited with high fever in the emergency room for three hours!”, the patriot in me was confused as to why people negated the advantages of the system and voiced their opinions so loudly on its shortcomings.

Then, a time came when loved one of mine needed prompt medical help. We automatically relied on the healthcare system to guide us to the best specialist. However when the family doctor told us that the earliest appointment available was 2 months later, we were literally in a state of shock. Needless to say, the family member traveled back to my home country on an urgent basis and obtained the medical help he needed. The cost of a 22 hours flight and medical fees accumulated to an amount which would have been better spent in obtaining private health care in Canada. The problem was that there was no such thing available.

I regularly see more and more people migrating back to their countries to acquire timely health care access. In my opinion, the problem does not lie in gaining access to the primary level of health care. We have sources such as family doctors, walk-in clinics, TeleHealth, all of which are strong channels which can provide us with the proper means to attain specialized help (if needed). However, the number of specialized clinicians in Canada is not growing as fast as the expansion of the Canadian population. From personal experience, most of the students of Life Sciences who aspire to enter into Medical School show great pessimism towards practice in Canada. Many of them migrate to the United States in order to successfully obtain the rights to practice. The health practitioners which are immigrating into Canada face the challenge of not having proper medical education that is up to the Canadian standards. Many of them falter under the stress of countless obstacles and re-evaluation procedures that they either change professions or settle for jobs which are a waste of their specialization.

Health care reform is an idea that is worth commending. However, some of the problems with the “status quo” are related to lack of accessibility. Hence, if health care reform is placing an emphasis on cohesion with “other levels of care” (i.e. hospitals and specialist care), the need for expansion of these services is also mandatory. We health practitioners need to keep up with the ever-growing population of Canada and its needs. International practitioners should also be encouraged and given the chance to practice. These small steps would bring us from treading on the path of mere hope, to change.