Alberta's health minister says low wages didn't drive doctors away
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 | 2:02 PM ET
CBC News
Four top public health doctors are not leaving because of low wages, said Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert.
“What I said at the time was that going forward there were demands that we didn’t feel we could agree to. I did not say their salaries were too high,” Liepert said Tuesday.
Dr. Karen Grimsrud, the acting provincial health officer, Dr. Gloria Keays, the deputy provincial health officer, and Dr. Ameet Singh, the infectious-disease medical consultant, are all leaving the Health and Wellness Department when their contracts expire in August.
A fourth senior public health official, Dr. Shainoor Virani, stepped down earlier this year.
Liepert said the province failed to sign the doctors to new deals over the past few months.
When asked about the situation in June, Liepert said: “There is a limit as to what the government of Alberta can pay for certain positions.”
Now, the minister insists money was not the reason the doctors left, even though Grimsrud, the acting medical officer of health, was paid nearly $60,000 less per year than her counterparts in other provinces.
Grimsrud was earning almost $220,000, while her counterpart in Ontario makes about $280,000.
Also Tuesday, Liepert denied that the doctors are leaving because of problems within the health department.
Only the doctors know
But NDP Leader Brian Mason isn’t so sure of that, saying “I don’t believe the minister."
Only the doctors know the truth, Mason said Tuesday, and they are not allowed to talk about the situation because they are under a gag order, “which makes it impossible for them to challenge minister Liepert’s version of the truth.”
In June, Mason said he believed they left because they are against what he described as the government's move toward private health care.
Mason would like to see the doctors testify before a Tory-dominated legislature committee in the fall, but that won’t happen unless the Tory MLAs agree to it.
An Edmonton emergency room doctor believes something good is coming from all the controversy.
Dr. Louis Francescutti said he doesn't remember a time when public health got this much attention in the province, and it’s raising public awareness about the importance of these jobs.
"The public has to realize that somebody's looking after them in terms of making sure the food they eat is safe, making sure the housing they're in is safe, making sure when they flush the toilet it goes where it's supposed to, and when they're turning on the tap, the water's clean," he said.
"Now, that's part of what public health does, but they do a [heck of a] lot more, so these men and women need to be recognized and rewarded appropriately."
Francescutti believes a fair salary for senior public health physicians would be more than $300,000 a year.
