Dr. Katharine Smart is the president of the Canadian Medical Association. She is someone who knows and understands medicine and the medical profession across the country.
So when she tells CTV News: “What’s clearly coming is the collapse of the current health-care system. We’re not seeing the political will to take that seriously,” she should be taken seriously.
I am not a medical doctor and have not lived the life our doctors do.
I have educated a great many students who have gone on to medical school and are practicing, in Prince George and elsewhere but I don’t know the hours doctors put in nor what is involved outside of simply seeing a patient.
Please take the following analysis more as a question than an answer.
I have been trying to understand how we can be in our present situation. The numbers don’t seem to make sense.
A 2018 survey of physicians across Canada came to the conclusion that there are 6,356 family practice and general physicians in British Columbia. (A total of 11,744 physicians including specialists.) A 2022 count came to 6,886 family practice and general physicians.
Making the broad assumption that these numbers are “right” – that there are roughly 6,500 family practice and general physicians in B.C. – and with BCStats’ estimate of the population nearly 5.27 million as of April 1, we would have one general physician for every 810 people in the province.
Does this sound like the right ratio? Research conducted by various medical associations argue a general physician should be carrying a case load of between 1,200 and 1,800 patients.
That sounds like a lot but many patients only come in for an annual check-up while others could be making weekly visits.
If we assume 1,200 patients is a reasonable load, we should only need 4,390 physicians. Either way you parse it, there should be enough physicians for everyone in B.C. And yet over a million British Columbians are without a family doctor, we have emergency rooms closing for days because of staff shortages, and surgical waitlists which stretch into years.
Clearly, Dr. Smart is on to something. Our health care system isn’t working.
