Alberta doctors are speaking out against proposed changes to the Health Professions Act, saying they'll create more bureaucracy and harm overall patient care.
The Alberta Medical Association notified its members about the proposals Thursday.
“There's no other province in Canada that has suggested something like this,” Dr. Christine Molnar, AMA president.
That's part of the reason the AMA is pushing back against the UCP's proposed changes to the health professions act presented in the last two weeks.
“There will be no doctors that support the loss of self-regulation. It is going to increase the risk to the public. It will decrease the safety for the public,” Molnar said.
Molnar said the proposals would significantly change the way medical licensing, regulation, complaints and discipline are handled. Things doctors currently self-regulate, which Molnar said, works just fine.
“I don't really think that someone who's not intimately aware of the practice of medicine is really able to either set standards or evaluate complaints.”
“Obviously the relationship right now between Alberta physicians and its government is quite strained,” said Dr. Darren Markland, an ICU doctor at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.
He has concerns over the changes, proposed during what he calls a hostile time for government-doctor relations.
“Puts significant concern behind the underlying intention these changes are being made in a system that already works very well,” he said.
In a statement to CTV News Edmonton, AHS said certain provisions of the 2001 health professions act are now outdated and the consultations are just that at this point. No final decisions have been made, but the AMA is taking them seriously.
“Why would you put forth a proposal if you didn't think it was a realistic option for change?” said Molnar.
The AMA is now putting together a formal response to the proposals, which will be delivered by the end of this week.
