I SHOULD GO SEE MY FAMILY DOCTOR? OH, I DIDN’T THINK ABOUT THAT THANK YOU! OH YEAH: THEY DON’T EXIST!
I began my first year of university in Fall 2022, and like many other first-years, I was immensely sick for most of it. My journey included the infliction of the common frosh flu to a more serious piercing infection that left me unable to eat without experiencing excruciating pain. Add in several more medical emergencies, illnesses, and ailments and suddenly I was the U of O’s on-call petri dish by exam season.
No matter what illness ravaged me from week to week, I ran into one reoccurring issue: finding basic health care. Similar to fifteen per cent of all Ontarians, I have no family doctor.
As it stands, finding one in Ottawa is a task similar to climbing Mount Everest. According to a CBC article that researched Health Care Connect success rates in the Champlain region (which Ottawa falls under), “35,000 patients registered were never matched with a family doctor — about one in three”. Furthermore, in the same article, only three doctors in the area were accepting new patients at the time of publication, leaving Ottawa’s citizens to rush to find said unnamed doctors to possibly be given a spot.
This technicality dwindles my access to healthcare to overworked clinics and jam-packed emergency rooms.
By Nov. 2022, I had been dealing with an ear infection that began a month beforehand.
The services provided by the university to aid students gave me zero solace. Multiple trips to the Student Health and Wellness Centre ended without being seen by any healthcare professional.
I stayed up countless times till midnight to book an appointment, only to be met with an automated apology that all slots were filled up. The minimum I ever received was a sheet with clinics to “try” with no promises of any treatment and a calm “have you considered talking to your family doctor?” – a person who did not exist.
It took trips to four different clinics to receive a basic prescription for antibiotics. A process which was only possible due to me and two other friends researching for hours. It took two weeks to figure out which clinic could see me instead of sending me away on arrival due to being overbooked.
So why did it take an investigation task force to receive a bottle of antibiotics for a relatively common infection? Furthermore, why is it considered the norm to live in painful limbo as you tiresomely search for help?
The Ford government has made several half-hearted attempts to “fix” the issue at hand. The most notable was the allowance of pharmacists to prescribe treatment for thirteen common conditions in January 2023. A decision that is simply a band-aid on a much larger bullet wound.
Furthermore the increasing attempts of privatizing clinics by Ford – a move that ignores the core of the issue of understaffing — has shifted the conversation away from quality healthcare to reducing government spending.
The health of Ontario’s citizens has become a pawn in a larger political battle. The fallout of which will have increasingly worse results as “40 per cent of physicians are considering retiring in the next five years” according to an Ontario Medical Association survey. More and more Ontarians will be left aimlessly searching for help and relying on a diminishing system to supplement.
Additionally, my experience only touches upon attempting to receive immediate healthcare. Other services provided by family doctors are nearly inaccessible without one. Leaving people needing referrals to specialists — ranging from basic gynecologists to cancer screenings — and people managing chronic conditions, such as diabetes, to fall through the cracks.
So if you are like me, a human who has the misfortune of living in a body without a family doctor, I strongly suggest that you don’t get sick.
