Chris Lowrey
PONTIAC April 18, 2018
A group of concerned citizens has been traveling throughout the Outaouais to garner support for their mission of improving the region’s healthcare network.
Representatives from Equité Outaouais made an appearance at the April 18 MRC council of mayors meeting in the hopes of getting the mayors to sign the group’s petition.
The petition states that compared to the rest of the province, the Outaouais region is severely underfunded.
They say that $2,483 per capita gets spent on healthcare in the Outaouais. Outside the region, that number sits at $2,957 – a difference of $474 per person.
Dr. Gilles Aubé, a family doctor from the Hull hospital, also pointed to the shortage of staff members at area healthcare facilities.
“We are short 173 short-stay hospital beds, which represents an entire hospital,” the group said in a press release.
The group also says that 800 women from the Outaouais region give birth in Ontario every year.
In total, Equité Outaouais estimates that more than $100 million from the Outaouais region’s healthcare budget goes to Ontario.
The group also says that the Outaouais region is short 40 family doctors, 227 specialist doctors, 139 pharmacists, 975 nurses and 2,085 managerial and healthcare workers compared to the rest of the province.
But it’s not just healthcare the group is concerned about. They also point to several areas where the Outaouais falls short of provincial averages.
The group says that the Outaouais region accounts for 4.7 per cent of the Quebec population but only gets 1.6 per cent of higher education funding.
They point to the 23 per cent dropout rate in Outaouais high schools compared to the 16.2 per cent provincial average.
“The people of the Outaouais region demand adequate and quality public services, as well as appropriate legislative and regulatory measures,” the group’s petition reads.
None of the mayors immediately signed the petition, but Warden Jane Toller said they would look over the document.
More information can be found at the Equité Outaouais Facebook page.
