Jan 15, 2015
By Michael Kramer
Ontario’s Health Minister Eric Hoskins is expressing disappointment that the Ontario Medical Association has rejected a contract offer from the province.
The offer would have increased physicians’ pay by 1.25 per cent a year – for the next three years.
Hoskins says the Ontario Medical Association wants to put raises for doctors ahead of patient services – because the OMA wants increases of 2.7 per cent a year.
The Health Minister says Ontario doctors are among the highest paid in Canada – with an average salary of $360,000 – and will eventually have to agree to do the same amount of work as the previous year – for the same amount of money.
He says 10 cents of every dollar the Ontario government spends – about $11 billion a year – goes to compensate doctors – and that’s up over 60 per cent in a decade.
The OMA says the province’s offer would have a “negative and lasting impact on patients,” and provide less than half the necessary funding to hire the new doctors it says are required – to meet Ontario’s growing medical needs.
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