I'm catching my breath a little bit.
I just want to echo a couple of points here.
I think we should re-examine the Health Council of Canada. We should look into that and return to the original Health Council of Canada recommendations to ensure Canadians have the means to be engaged to provide input to the government on the operation of our health care system. As well, we should reinstate some of the Health Council of Canada's specific mandate to continue assisting Canadians and different levels of government with regard to various concerns for the nation's health care system.
Also, with regard to pharmacare, it recommended striking a national public pharmaceutical committee made up of non-partisan experts in the field of national drug plans. We should look into that. We should also look into bringing about national comprehensive bulk buying and pharmaceutical purchasing.
There's also the national mental health initiative. We should....
Then home care is very important.
Also, privatization is my concern. In Alberta, my colleague Len Webber knows there were musings by
Premier Klein about having a third way. There was a push to privatize health care and maybe have a two-tiered system or a three-tiered system. Who knows?
In any case, because the costs of health care keep creeping up, we are trying to find a quick solution. When I was at the doctor, there were 25 or 30 people waiting there. A gentleman came to me and asked why there wasn't a $5 fee to see the doctor. There were lots of people there with colds, sniffles, and all that, who didn't need to be there, so if there was a $5 fee, maybe half the people wouldn't be there. Those kinds of things have come up.
There is also the issue of costs for health care. Because our senior population is increasing, there are more pressures and demands on the health care system. We have to be looking into innovation and technology and how we could keep the costs down. Maybe the committee should bring in experts to look into that and curtail the costs for health care, because I don't think we can keep up, given the way the costs are going up.
Another thing is that we have many doctors from India, Pakistan, and other countries who are driving cabs, and we should look into how we can bring those specialists and doctors to work in the system. When I was in public accounts in Alberta, my suggestion was to let them work in the system with our Canadian doctors here. Let them bring them up to speed in two, three, or four years. Let's pay them some wages so they can make a good living and at the same time work in their profession. They can come up to speed. I'm talking about recognizing foreign credentials. That will, I think, ease the pressures on health care.
We should have incentives for the rural areas of the country, because lots of doctors don't want to go there. We should have some kind of incentive to balance it. Maybe new doctors would go for five or 10 years or whatever. I know maybe it's charged with challenges, but we should look into innovative ways to bring more doctors into the system so they could serve the rural part of the country.
I come from India, and there was a public system when I was growing up. We had clinics. Then, when we brought in the private system, the public education system and public health care system were a shambles. Therefore I think that as a committee, we should be looking into how we can keep costs down and keep health care public. I think once we open the door a little bit here for privatization, everybody will be paying through the nose.
I know what it is like back home. When somebody goes to a hospital, they say, “There's a window; go there.” Then the cost is maybe $200,000 or $300,000. It depends on the severity of the illness. They say, “Go there and deposit the money, and then we will look at you.” I'm afraid that if we open the door even a little crack for privatization, we may end up there.
That's all from me for now.