I’m not going to bother linking articles because I’ve lived the experience and just wanted to share it.
It’s also not a condemnation of socialized medicine in general.
There are not enough doctors. People are scrambling and panicking to find one if they don’t already have a family physician. Immigration is partly to blame.
There’s a shortage of hospitals. Two large hospitals are being built in the BC “lower mainland” but they won’t be online for a few years.
People are going to the ER for general medical care, but if your not in immediate danger of dying the wait is 5 to 9 hours. I stayed with someone until 3 am waiting for them to be seen. A nurse told us we might as well go home.
My stepson had to wait two days for x-rays when he broke his foot.
Cancer patients are missing diagnoses and treatment.
It’s hard even to get a “phone” appointment with a doctor which has become a preferred method of treatment.
There are walk=in clinics but you have to make an appointment, sometimes a week in advance.
All this is still going on, even well after Covid. The only bright side is they’ve started to allow pharmacists to diagnose and write prescriptions for common ailments.
Heaven help us if there’s another pandemic.