Commentary
The annual survey of specialist physicians conducted by the Fraser Institute has been ongoing since 1993, and this year’s median wait time is the highest ever recorded during that period: 30 weeks from referral by a general practitioner to treatment. This marks an increase from last year’s 27.7 weeks and a 222 percent rise since 1993—when the median wait time was only 9.3 weeks.
The report reveals that Canadians are currently waiting for a total of 1,543,994 medical procedures, with an estimated 3.7 percent of the population on waiting lists. Diagnostic services are also experiencing significant delays, with anticipated wait times of 16.2 weeks for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, 8.1 weeks for a computed tomography (CT) scan, and 5.2 weeks for an ultrasound.
Prolonged health-care waitlists have more than just inconveniencing effects. Apart from causing emotional distress and anxiety for patients and their families, extended wait times may be contributing to increased mortality rates.
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Although not all cases of patient deaths on waiting lists can be attributed to the health-care system, some deaths reported in this study occurred after patients waited beyond the recommended time for life-saving procedures. For example, 101 patients died while awaiting heart surgery in Ontario—36 of them after exceeding the maximum recommended wait time.
The report also highlights instances where patients pass away while languishing on excessively long waitlists for non-life-threatening but crucial medical services like hip replacements or cataract surgeries—services that could have enhanced their quality of life.
Addressing the issues in Canada’s health-care system necessitates robust public discourse and deliberation. A significant barrier to this is the lack of transparency, as detailed breakdowns of wait times and waitlist fatalities are not readily accessible to the public.
It is important to note that there are limitations to the methodology employed in the Fraser Institute’s annual report—the authors of this year’s report acknowledge that their estimates “may be biased downward, understating actual wait times.” The report from SecondStreet.org relied on freedom of information (FOI) requests submitted to government health-care entities; some of these entities indicated that “the cause for cancelling a procedure isn’t always tracked for all procedures and may not be recorded by all staff.”
The public should not have to rely solely on surveys and FOI requests from think tanks to obtain data on the functionality (or dysfunctionality) of our health-care system. Enhanced transparency on this matter would empower the public to hold the government accountable.
Taboos, particularly concerning the correlation between population growth and the strain on Canada’s healthcare system, constrain public discussions. While many health-care analyses offer viable policy recommendations, they often include only a cursory mention that these reforms are necessary to align Canada’s healthcare capacity with its expanding population.
As we usher in the New Year, my hope is for a robust dialogue on health care, with a focus on tangible and implementable reforms. Canadian taxpayers, whose contributions fund the system vital to the well-being of citizens, deserve better.
Riley Donovan is a freelance journalist and the editor of Dominion Review.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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