From the Canadian Medical Association

Dr. Brian Day
President, Canadian Medical Association

This is the year the annual meeting of Canadian Medical Association (CMA) started to go green. Every year, hundreds of physicians from across the country gather to discuss a wide variety of health-care concerns. This year, in Vancouver, the physicians who make up the CMA Parliament were extraordinarily productive and passed 100 resolutions across a number of issues having either a direct or an indirect impact on the health of you and your family.

As is the case with many Canadians, the environment was high on the doctors’ agenda, and with good reason. Results of a poll conducted for the CMA and released at the meeting show that more than a quarter of Canadians say they, or someone in their family, have experienced an environment-related health condition.

Delegates called for action on a number of urgent environment-related fronts:

• the need to guarantee access to clean, safe and reliable drinking water;
• the need to keep Canadians better informed about the impact of environmental factors on health;
• the need to act more quickly to reduce emissions;
• the need to minimize the effects of global climate change on health;
• the need to promote the safe and rational use of pesticides.

The CMA set an example by reducing waste at the meeting. Some materials were printed on-site rather than being shipped in and some were produced electronically. Food was locally sourced, and the venues for events were able to recycle and compost so that very little refuse went into landfill. Even the pens distributed to delegates were biodegradable, and each one contained a plantable tomato seed in its cap.

One of the meeting’s main sessions dealt with the need for all health-care professions to work together to improve the health of patients. It was during this session that delegates voted strongly to oppose the right of pharmacists to prescribe drugs outside of a collaborative-care arrangement, as they are now permitted to do in Alberta. Physicians view pharmacists as an integral part of the health-care system, but many consider it inappropriate for the same professional to both prescribe and dispense medications.

The other major focus was ensuring the “continuum of care” — making sure that Canadians access health care when they need it. Doctors strongly supported expanding medicare to include delivering medically necessary services in the home, which is currently not guaranteed under the Canada Health Act. They also called for changes that would allow all Canadians access to the prescription drugs they need.

Other serious public-health concerns were addressed. Delegates were praised for urging all levels of government to implement a ban on smoking in vehicles carrying children. As the Regina Leader-Post stated in an editorial after the meeting: “Kudos to the Canadian Medical Association for recently calling for a ban on smoking in cars with kids. Smoking in a small, enclosed space such as a car is 23 times more toxic than in a house. Exposure to second-hand smoke puts children at risk for serious health problems.”

Doctors, acting in the best interests of their patients, will continue to make a strong impression on the public consciousness and promote changes that will help us all.