school closures, distance learning and a lack of sports and opportunities to socialize has damaged the mental health of too many of quebec’s adolescents, the province’s senior pediatricians say.
about 40 per cent of beds in pediatric hospitals are filled with youth suffering from eating disorders,
anxiety and depression
— more than double the numbers seen in previous years, the physicians wrote in a letter to premier françois legault, education minister jean-françois roberge and public health director horacio arruda.
cases of
eating disorders in hospital clinics
have quadrupled since the start of the pandemic in march 2020 and emergency room pediatricians are overwhelmed with patients who have anxiety and suicidal thoughts.
with the number of covid-19 cases declining and vaccinations increasing, quebec must prioritize the mental health of adolescents until the end of the school year, wrote dr. anne-monique nuyt, director of pediatrics at ste. justine hospital.
students should be in class as much as possible and they need opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities and sports, both indoors and outside.
“there are two months left in the school year and we need to act to limit the consequences of the pandemic on a generation of adolescents who are the workers and parents of tomorrow,” nuyt wrote.