Despite the adoption last April of bill 83 aimed at encouraging medical practice in the Quebec public network, an increasing number of family physicians in Quebec opt for a transition to the private sector.
In July 2024, Quebec had 509 family physicians who left the public network to practice in the private sector.
A year later, this trend even accentuated with significant progression, according to The Gazette. In July 2025, the number of disaffiliated family doctors in Quebec reached 561, representing an increase of more than 5% of practitioners who opted for the private sector.
This phenomenon arouses concern within certain members of the medical community.
“What is even more worrying is that if we look at the curve since the 2000s, it is an exponential curve. So it accelerates and it accelerates more. ”Said Doctor Xavier Gauvrault, vice-president of Quebec doctor for the public diet.
Law 83 requires newly graduated doctors to practice in the public sector during their first five years of practice. In addition, any doctor wishing to work in the private sector must now obtain a specific authorization from Health Quebec, according to well -defined criteria.
The Minister of Health Christian Dubé had expressed his satisfaction following the adoption of this bill last spring.
“Our government takes concrete measures to improve access to health care, with a clear objective: that all Quebecers are taken care of by summer 2026.”
The government previously expressed its intention to limit this exodus, criticized by the college of doctors.
According to Doctor Gauvrault, solving this problem requires improving the working conditions of nursing staff.
“What doctors need is more resources, more nurses, more trained staff. I believe that currently, if we want to reverse this trend, it is not necessarily by adopting binding measures such as bills 83 or 106, but by improving working conditions in the health network. I think that doctors who work in the public sector want to work, want to offer care, but unfortunately, the necessary conditions are not always present. ”
See the full interview in the video above
