The province's doctors have given the Alberta Liberal party the highest marks on a health-care questionnaire heading into Monday's election.
The Alberta Medical Association posed 10 questions to five parties to find out where they stood on health-care issues. The answers were assessed by about 150 doctors.
The Liberals fared best with a B, followed by the NDP with a C+, the Progressive Conservatives with a C, and the Alberta Greens were last with a D. The Wildrose Alliance was the only party that didn't respond to the survey.
"I think they've been trying to avoid the discussion as much as possible," said AMA president Dr. Darryl LaBuick at a Calgary news conference Thursday.
"But in the last stages of the campaign here we want to make sure that people have a really good think about health care before they make their vote on Monday."
Five of the questions focused on how parties would put the patient first on:
- Protecting patient confidentiality in electronic medical and health records.
- Addressing physician shortages.
- Making primary care networks available to all Albertans.
- Paying for preventative services, such as advice on how to stop smoking.
- Not lowering the standards physicians need to practise in Alberta.
The other five questions dealt with what role doctors would play in delivering health care to patients.
The association has posted the parties' answers and grades on its website.
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