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Report - Council on Provincial
Affairs
By Lorne Bellan, Chair
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| Throughout
the country, it is felt that there is a worsening problem
of resource allocation for the provision of ophthalmic
care. This is seen in lengthening waiting lists in several
provinces. It is also making it hard for new graduates
to start out in practice even though there is a national
manpower shortage. In Nova Scotia and Ontario, the governments
are asking the medical schools to certify international
medical graduates after a three-month period of observation
so they can work in under-serviced areas. The clinical
department heads are not supporting this. Calgary, Hamilton,
and Winnipeg are all in the process of trying to establish
new ophthalmology residency programs. The fate of the
residency training program in Saskatchewan is uncertain
because of the recent departure of the department head
and the pending departure of the only other geographically
based ophthalmologist. In Alberta, the regional health
authority has floated the idea of having a single waiting
list so that when a patient rises to the top he or she
would go to the first available surgeon at the first available
hospital. In Quebec, there is an ongoing dispute about
the scope of practice for optometrists. In British Columbia,
the government is about to allow opticians to refract.
Optometry is fighting a very public campaign to try and
block this. Finally, in Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, and
Alberta there have been modifications to the fee schedule
to allow partial, or in some cases, complete unbundling
of perioperative visits from surgical fees. |
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