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home / 世界杯决赛2022

tam admits canada wasn't ready for covid, needs an overhaul for next pandemic

tam's detailed report says the public health system is in need of a serious overhaul

by ryan tumilty

dec 13 2021
read time 4 minute read
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canada's chief public health officer, dr. theresa tam, attends a news conference as efforts continue to help slow the spread of coronavirus disease (covid-19) in ottawa, ontario, canada march 23, 2020 reuters/blair gable
ottawa — chief public health officer dr. theresa tam is admitting the public health system wasn’t prepared for covid and is proposing a new course to ensure canada will be ready for the next pandemic.
in a lengthy report, tam says many of the issues are long-standing and in need of serious overhaul. she said the pandemic should serve as an alarm for what needs to be done.
“the covid-19 pandemic has served as an important wake up call. simply put, we were not prepared to face a public health emergency of the magnitude of covid-19,” she said.

tam’s report, entitled “a vision to transform canada’s public health system,” highlights four key areas to improve, starting with the need to expand and develop a stronger workforce.
“our public health system has been stretched dangerously thin and this is in need of critical reinforcements,” she said.
tam calls for more recruitment of public health workers and said the workforce also needs to be more diverse so it better mirrors the communities it serves. she argues public health has to be seen as an investment in health care that can ultimately keep people out of hospitals.
“an effective health system is more than treating illness through medicines and hospital procedures. it means preventing these illnesses from happening in the first place,” she said.
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tam is also calling for a significant improvement to the way data is collected and shared across the country. she said while it has improved over the course of the pandemic, canada’s disjointed system of data collection has made it harder for experts to determine what was really happening during covid-19 waves.
the national post reported last year that canada has spent $147 million on a data system named panorama. the investments began in 2004, after the sars crisis,and continued for more than a decade but produced a system that isn’t being used during the pandemic.
tam said the pandemic forced improvements in how provinces collect and share information and it’s important those improvements stay in place and are built upon after the pandemic.
“what i’m advocating for is that we build on some of the gains that we’ve had during this pandemic, we need to consolidate those gains and not let it slip backwards.”
tam is also calling for improvements to the governance structures of public health agencies, making sure they have the ability to speak regularly to decision makers. she also argues for long-term stable funding for public health so that it doesn’t get increases only during a crisis.
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“public health always deals with very complex issues that take quite a long time to tackle. and as a result, they often span the duration of political election cycles.”
tam’s report only touches on issues around border controls and screening for viruses. the auditor general found last week that the government was still not checking up on up to a third of travellers who are supposed to be quarantined.
she said a full review of how canada handled those issues is important, but also said viruses can move into canada before officials are even aware they exist.
“this omicron variant has again demonstrated that viruses know no borders, so that as soon as you found out something about a new variant or the next pathogen or virus, it’s probably crossed borders.”
the agency has also been criticized for how an internal surveillance tool, the global public health intelligence network (gphin), was used during the pandemic. while two independent reports found the system could not have found covid earlier than it did, they also found the system had become too bureaucratic and was in need of reform.
tam said reforming gphin and integrating with other surveillance tools is important, but it is also important that the agency has good analysis of the information it gathers.

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ian culbert, executive director of the canadian public health association, applauded tam’s report and said the government should create national standards.
“canada lacks national data collection standards and so we have inconsistencies in how surveillance data are collected and reported. chief among these is our failure to collect information concerning race, ethnicity and socio-economic status,” he said in a statement.
culbert also called for new legislation making clear which government would be responsible in a crisis.
“we need federal legislation for public health — a canada public health act — with clear roles and responsibilities defined for all governments and stakeholders.”
tam didn’t provided specific budget figures or proposals for new legislation in her report, but said she hopes it would lead to a serious discussion after the pandemic.
“my hope is that the recommendations outlined in my reports are a much needed national dialogue and catalyze collective action on public health renewal,” she said. “canada’s best defence against future public health threats is a strong public health system and a healthier population.”

twitter: ryantumilty
email: rtumilty@postmedia.com

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