Canada

According to the Wellesley Institute, Canada is the only developed country with a universal healthcare programme which does not include access to prescription drugs. Thus, while Canadians don’t need to pay to see their doctor, prescription drugs are not covered by the universal healthcare programme. And they are some of the highest priced in the world, with patients’ out-of-pocket expenditure on prescribed drugs amounting to $3.6bn annually.

A series of criminal trials over a bribery scandal over a P3 privatization scheme ended last week with people admitting that $22.5 million in bribes were paid, but with no one being convicted of actually paying them. For those naïve enough to believe that the justice system does a good job of policing the privatization industry, it was a very bad week.

For the last few years, the 75,000 members of the Quebec health care workers’ union, the FIQ, have been campaigning for the government to allow them to provide quality and humane health care. A lot of problems can be avoided by having stable well-staffed work teams.

PSI participated in the 6th Violence in the Health Sector conference that was held in Toronto on 24-26 October on the theme “Advancing the Delivery of Positive Practice”. The conference provided a platform for all parties confronted with the phenomenon of violence in healthcare to develop and implement positive practice and proactively respond to this complex problem.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees is celebrating a major victory against Public Private Partnerships after the Manitoba government reversed plans to use the controversial PPP model for the construction of new schools in Winnipeg and Brandon.