MONTREAL (PasseportSanté.net) May 9, 2005 – Citizen participation should be a determining element in the evolution of the health system in Quebec.
This is the wish expressed with conviction by the participants in the Colloquium “Health: the time for choices”, which took place at the end of the week in Montreal under the aegis of the Institut du Nouveau Monde.1. This conference is one of the elements of a vast forum for strategic reflection on societal choices in health matters, which brings together experts and citizens in nine regions of Quebec.
Let’s judge: the participants recommended that a Health Public Hearings Office be created to assess the public health impact of any development project, as well as government bills. They also proposed a National Citizen’s Commission on Health to determine the priorities and major orientations of the system. Finally, they recommended the creation of the post of Health Commissioner obliged to consult the population before making his recommendations to the Minister of Health.
This desire for transparency aims above all to reduce the weight of industrial, corporate and union lobbies, which often influence political decisions in health in an obscure manner, and to establish a citizen consensus on the orientations of the system.
The hundred or so participants also clearly took a position in favor of a prevention policy by proposing, among other things, that the proportion of the budget of the Ministry of Health devoted to prevention be increased from 2.5% to 5%, as recommended by the World Health Organization, and that the fight against poverty be the first objective of this policy.
Among the forty or so proposals that have been adopted, we also note those to allow the creation of pilot projects put forward by citizens and network stakeholders, to recognize alternative therapies, and to tightly control the increase in cost of drugs.
All the proposals will be submitted to Mr. Philippe Couillard, Minister of Health of Quebec, as well as to the Council of Health and Welfare2. This consultative body also sees the relevance of its draft Declaration of Rights and Responsibilities in matters of health and well-being particularly reinforced by the proposals adopted at the end of the week.
Christian Lamontagne – PasseportSanté.net
1. Institut du Nouveau Monde: (www.inm.qc.ca)
2. Declaration of rights and responsibilities in matters of health and well-being, Conseil de la santé et du bien-être: www.csbe.gouv.qc.ca (consulted on May 9, 2005)
