Letters: Kudos to Quebec health-care workers, not health-care system

Breadcrumb Trail Links

OpinionLetters

Article content

Re: “How will consolidated approach to health care affect Quebecers?” (The Gazette, Nov. 15)

I recently had the benefit of orthopedic surgery at one of Montreal’s premier health institutions. From my first visit with the specialist to the date of surgery, which was only three months total, I was treated with respect and great care. Without exception, the staff were professional and compassionate.

Article content

The hospital itself was much in need of refreshing. For the five days I was there, there was no hot running water. The doctors and nurses are working under impossible conditions, taking care of frustrated patients who are in pain and often in fear for their lives, yet they were always there with a warm smile, taking care of business no matter how daunting it seemed to be.

Perhaps Santé Québec will be the final nail in the coffin for our public medical system. The bloated bureaucracy continues to grow while we grow older without adequate primary care for the most vulnerable.

Once again, I thank the front-line workers who took such good care of me in a less than adequate building with less staff than needed. They are the champions of the health-care system, but I fear we are burning them out faster than we can replace them.

Lili Yesovitch, Côte-St-Luc

Let bureaucrats see an ER first-hand

Re: “Revealed: Quebec slashes thousands of health-care workers’ hours” (The Gazette, Nov. 13)

The Quebec government keeps on making poor decisions that only serve to make an ailing system deteriorate further. Those who are behind the senseless and damaging decisions should go to a hospital emergency room and experience first-hand what a mess the system is. And let them try to find a doctor so they don’t need to go to the ER.

Article content

Ruth Khazzam, Westmount

There are reasons vets don’t treat humans

Re: “Researchers beg Canada to stop importing monkeys for experimentation” (The Gazette, Nov. 8)

Michelle Lalonde’s otherwise informative article neglects to mention the ultimate fate of the long-tailed macaque monkeys exported from Cambodia to Canada for medical lab testing —  as many as 8,000 since early 2023, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Perhaps it would be too troubling to be informed, as there may be few if any survivors.

If non-human animal medical testing were that useful, surely humans would be able to visit veterinary clinics for their health problems.

In fact, the development of engineering and science that prevents massive disease — clean water, flushable toilets, refrigerators, heating systems and so on — has nothing to do with lab animals.

Let us heed the educated request of the many scientists who are asking for an end to the exploitation of the monkeys, our close cousins across the species.

Shloime Perel, Côte-St-Luc

Submitting a letter to the editor

Article content

Letters should be sent by email to letters@montrealgazette.com

We prioritize letters that respond to, or are inspired by, articles published by The Gazette. If you are responding to a specific article, let us know which one.

Letters should be sent uniquely to us. The shorter they are — ideally, fewer than 200 words — the greater the chance of publication.

Timing, clarity, factual accuracy and tone are all important, as is whether the writer has something new to add to the conversation.

We reserve the right to edit and condense all letters. Care is taken to preserve the core of the writer’s argument.

Our policy is not to publish anonymous letters, those with pseudonyms or “open letters” addressed to third parties.

Letters are published with the author’s full name and city or neighbourhood/borough of residence. Include a phone number and address to help verify identity; these will not be published.

We will not indicate to you whether your letter will be published. If it has not been published within 10 days or so, it is not likely to be.

Please send the letter in the body of an email, not as an attachment.

Recommended from Editorial

Letters: Montreal’s Remembrance Day ceremony can be improved

Letters: ‘O Canada! We run for cover to thee’

Letters: Existing commuter train to West Island must be retained

Article content

Article content

Share this article in your social network