In a move that has been described as ‘Utterly Canadian’ by The Washington Post, hundreds of Doctors in Quebec are protesting their pay raises. Their excuse is that they already make too much money. This story has been widely reported without the detail that it was a pay raise, not just pay, that was being protested.
By noon on Wednesday, 7th March, more than 700 physicians, residents and medical students from the Canadian province had signed an online petition, initiated by a group named Médecins Québécois Pour le Régime (MQRP) and which represents Quebec doctors and advocates for public health on 25th of February, asking for their pay raises to be cancelled.
The statement read:
“We, Quebec doctors who believe in a strong public system, oppose the recent salary increases negotiated by our medical federations,” in reference to a deal that Quebec’s Federation of Medical Specialists reached with the government to increase the annual salaries of the province’s 10,000 medical specialists by about 1.4 percent in February.
According to Canadian Broadcasting Corporation News, the average salary for a specialist in Quebec is already high – $403,537 (about 112,586,823 Naira) annually – compared with $367,154 (about 102 million Naira) in neighbouring Ontario.
In their petition, the MQRP stated that the only thing that seems to be immune to the (healthcare system) cuts is their salaries. Emphasizing that contrary to government statements on the issue, “we believe that there is a way to redistribute the resources of the Quebec health system to promote the health of the population and meet the needs of patients without pushing workers to the end.”
The petition ended by asking that the salary increases be cancelled and the money redistributed throughout Quebec’s healthcare system.
In response, the Quebec Health Minister Gaétan Barrette, has stated that if the specialists feel overpaid, they can “leave the money on the table… I guarantee you I can make good use of it.”
Apart from the complain that they are being overpaid, the MQRP also stated in their petition that the increases are more shocking and unacceptable because their nurses, clerks and other professionals face very difficult working conditions, while their patients live with the lack of access to required services because of the drastic cuts in recent years and the centralization of power in the Ministry of Health.
Facts and Fiction
One major thing that should be clarified is that the protest is not a physical demonstration. The doctors and specialists did not cause civil unrest as many people have interpreted rather wrongly. The protest is an online based petition and absolutely peaceful.
Also, from their petition, it is evident that the MQRP is not just outrightly refusing the increment of their income. They are soliciting that the revenue is distributed to reach every hand in the Healthcare sector.
In Comparison: Nigerian Reactions
The news of doctors protesting has hit Nigerians like something from a fantasy film. Many are using the opportunity to call out the Healthcare system in Nigeria and the Healthcare practitioners here for only being concerned about their pay while others are going hard against the government for the meagre salaries that the healthcare specialists in Nigeria.
This is as a result of the many strikes that the health sector has witnessed in the country over time and the fact that most of the time, the bone of contention is usually due to poor salaries or delay in payment of salaries.
In a survey carried out by MySalaryScale.com in 2017, it was gathered that a medical doctor in Nigeria earns an average of N250,000 per month which equals to an average of N3,000,000 compared to $403,537 annual salary received by doctors in Quebec (roughly N9,382,235 in Naira per month and 112,586,823 Naira per year, using exchange rate of N279 to a Canadian Dollar). Many respondents to this issue have pointed this out as one of the reasons for the migration of Nigerian doctors to other countries (especially Canada).
Knights in Shiny Armour: Quebec Doctors an Example of Chivalry?
While the whole idea of turning down an opportunity to make more money is surprising to many, observers and respondents, have described the Quebec Healthcare specialists as knights in shining armour for their chivalry in requesting that the increment on their salary be disbursed and distributed evenly to the health sector in order for Nurses and patients to benefit adequately.
What this implies is that Doctors are protesting for better working conditions for Nurses and provision of efficient facilities to aid in the proper diagnosis and treatment of patients and, beyond just protest, they are offering to let go of their personal gains to better the conditions of the other parties involved.
