The Montreal Gazette’s Aaron Derfel is reporting that Liberal Prime Minister Paul (“we lead the world”) Martin’s personal doctor calls key areas of Canada’s health care system ‘disastrously terrible’.
Oh and he operates a chain of private clinics. Oh and Martin is a customer.
Prime Minister Paul Martin’s personal physician is the Montreal founder of a national network of clinics that is in the vanguard of private health care.
Dr. Sheldon Elman, president and majority shareholder of the Medisys Health Group, said Canada’s public health-care system has deteriorated to the point where it is “disastrously terrible” in key areas.
“We all grew up under this umbrella of, well, you’re entitled to unlimited free access to health care no matter what, no matter when and no matter how much,” Elman said in an interview.“Initially, we had an absolutely wonderful system … But the truth is that we don’t have this wonderful system. The system is great for certain things and absolutely, disastrously terrible for others.”
Elman cited as terrible the fact some provinces – Quebec is not one of them – prevent people from paying for an MRI scan to diagnose a medical problem.
“You can buy an MRI for your dog and you cannot buy it for your daughter. Literally, if your dog has a problem, you can go and get this done by a vet today.”
Medisys has offices in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. The Montreal facility has an MRI machine that costs patients about $560 for a scan, most of which can be reimbursed through private insurance.
[…] When news of Martin’s visits to Medisys broke last May, the PM denied ever paying for tests.
But Dr. Paul Saba, of the Coalition of Physicians for Social Justice, said the fact Martin goes to a private clinic shows he’s out of touch with the realities of the public system.
“The politicians who go to these private clinics have a different perception,” Saba said. “Their personal experience is different from the general public’s. Therefore, they feel less of an urgency to want to improve the system.”
(In January 2003, aides to Quebec Premier Jean Charest played down a report he received medical checkups at a private Montreal clinic for a number of years.
[…]
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