“emergency departments are usually not the priority of the decision-makers, even if they talk a lot about them,” landry told the montreal gazette.
for more than two decades, quebec’s overcrowded ers have been the canary in the mine shaft of the province’s health-care network. every incoming health minister has pledged to solve the crisis in ers, but the doctors and nurses who work in them say little has changed.
on thursday afternoon, montreal’s ers were filled to 106 per cent of their capacity. the douglas mental health university institute was the hardest hit, with an occupancy rate of 183 per cent, followed by verdun hospital at 162 per cent.
at maisonneuve-rosemont hospital, 26 patients were being treated on stretchers in the er’s corridors for at least 24 hours and six for more than two days. such numbers were never medically acceptable, but such overcrowding is now occurring in a pandemic.
a veteran montreal er nurse denounced what he suggested was dubé’s tunnel vision.
“he is completely neglecting the one area in the health-care system that has been crippled by covid-19: quebec’s emergency rooms,” said the west island nurse, who agreed to comment on condition of anonymity for fear of professional reprisals.