One year ago, at the CMA annual meeting of General Council in Quebec City, Roy Romanow threw down the gauntlet by observing that the medical profession tends to “shoot itself in the foot” by not speaking with one voice when presenting solutions to the challenges facing the health care system.
In the year that has passed, CMA Past-President Peter Barrett and Arun Garg, Chair of the Council on Health Policy and Economics, led an extraordinary effort to harmonize the voices of the CMA, its provincial/territorial divisions and affiliated societies, and brought forward an unprecedented consensus on the 30 recommendations that form the CMA's A Prescription for Sustainability. Our document serves notice that governments must now take action together to ensure the future of publicly funded health care in Canada.
That effort must begin with a clear challenge from Romanow, who was chosen by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien as the latest knight to try to slay the health care dragon in part because of his extensive experience in federal–provincial government relations. Any discussion on sustaining medicare in Canada must start there.
The CMA did not shirk from this reality when it proposed its 3 pillars of sustainability: a Canadian Health Charter, a Canadian Health Commission to back it up and legislative reforms to modernize the Canada Health Act. Now the governments of Canada cannot back away from their duty to make a clear commitment to health care and clarify what Canadians can expect from their health care system. There must be a renewed, transparent social contract between governments and taxpayers to determine health goals and ensure money flows to meet them.
Romanow will release his report in November. Speeches will be made and the media will clamour, but the real question will be whether or not political will exists to reframe the social contract between governments and the taxpayers they are elected to represent.
The medical profession's contract with our patients is clear: to do our utmost to protect the health of our patients. During my presidency, the CMA strengthened that contract through work on various issues, including Aboriginal health, creating the new Office for Public Health and responding to Romanow's challenge. In short, the CMA has answered the call. The question now is whether the governments of Canada will step up and demonstrate their commitment to the health of Canadians.
Henry Haddad President Canadian Medical Association Ottawa, Ont.