The Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ), has expressed significant reservations on several occasions in recent months regarding certain claims made by the Ordre des pharmaciens du Québec (OPQ), particularly those implying the right to prescribe drugs and administer vaccinations. General practitioners have always made a point of expressing their concerns about these issues because they are a matter of public health and safety for their patients. The FMOQ is therefore satisfied that the government has, in essence, taken those legitimate concerns into consideration in Bill 41 by not giving pharmacists the power to vaccinate and, most importantly, by allowing them to prescribe drugs only in cases that do not require a diagnosis. >>>

The Quebec Federation of General Practitioners (FMOQ) today made public the results of the vote held among its members on the draft agreement reached in June on the renewal of the general agreement governing their working conditions. >>>

Each day, family doctors are witness to the anguish of their fellow citizens, who do not have access to the primary health care they need. Behind the cold statistics, there are children, parents and grandparents who suffer because they or one of their relatives are not receiving necessary front line care. Access to a family doctor is, beyond any doubt, a priority for hundreds of thousands of Québecers and their families as well as general practitioners. >>>

The Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ) had hoped that the Québec government would capitalize on its 2011-2012 budget presentation to introduce permanent conditions to improving access to family doctors and primary care. The anticipated investments and concrete action, however, have yet to come to fruition. It appears as though government representatives have decided that now is not the time to act and make the much-needed investments in primary health care. >>>

“For a long time now, family doctors have been asking not only for more competitive remuneration, but also a reorganization of health care and better professional, technical and administrative support. The creation of FMGs stemmed from this line of thinking. Unfortunately, the rigid and “wall-to-wall” rules that are constantly defended by governmental authorities, the lack of any support whatsoever for more than half of the family doctors who provide health care and follow-up to millions of Québecers, and a historic refusal to invest the appropriate resources in public primary health care has, for years now, been an obstacle to truly improving access to a family doctor,” affirms Dr. Louis Godin, President of the FMOQ. >>>