Hear from doctors and nurses in our network in this powerful op-ed in the Toronto Star about the need for paid sick days to protect public health.
This year, as flu season coincides with the emergence of a new coronavirus, it’s time for Ford’s government to reverse course: bring back paid sick days, and get rid of sick notes.
As former Ontario health minister Tony Clement admitted, “Complacency about public health by successive governments — including my own — contributed to the challenge of containing SARS.”
This complacency continued creating the problem of hallway medicine that Doug Ford was elected to end. But instead, his government cut public health, putting disease prevention efforts in peril, cut paid sick days, meaning more workers in food services, child care and other high-risk workplaces are going to work sick. He also brought back bureaucratic sick notes so patients with the flu and other infections unnecessarily have to visit a doctor or emergency room.
In response to the coronavirus, Health Minister Christine Elliott stated that, “I want Ontarians to know that their health and well-being is my top concern. The province is actively monitoring and is fully prepared to respond.”
But the fact is, our patients are not fully prepared to respond because their paid sick days were taken away from them. This could lead to harm, but like other medical errors it is preventable: bring back paid sick days, and get rid of sick notes.
Hayman, Maclaren, & Jimenez, Toronto Star
Read the full piece, by Doctor Kate Hayman, Doctor Jesse Maclaren, and Registered Nurse Carolina Jimenez here.