Louise Leduc
Journalism

At a press conference, the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Duby, said we have already seen worse. He specified that “all kinds of scenarios” are considered if absenteeism further complicates the situation. Nothing specific has been specified.

The number 4223 absent was sent to Journalism At the end of the day by the Ministry includes both employees who have COVID-19 and those who are in a state of preventive absence, in the process of screening or on the sidelines due to a rejection of the examination.

Roughly speaking, Robert Maranda, of the department’s Department of Public Affairs, specifies that the network “could rely on relatively the same number of employees as last winter,” 299,000 in 2021 versus 291,000 in 2020, all job titles combined.

Preventive absences (1851) and screened absentees (1019) weigh more on the balance sheet than confirmed COVID-19 cases (892).

As for the 461 absent due to screening, it is clear that these are largely the ones who are arrested. Indeed, on November 14, Journalism He counted that nearly 200 health workers had been suspended without pay for refusing to undergo mandatory testing. (By a ministerial decree, employees who have not received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine must be tested outside their working hours.)

Health centers in the Laval region (149 absent employees) are relatively safe, those in Montreal with 1,426 absent employees.

The breakdown by employee category is as follows. In the Nursing Care category (which mainly includes nursing assistants and respiratory therapists), the ministry records 1,148 cases of absenteeism; In the auxiliary services (especially the attendants), there are 1,598 absentees; Among professionals (occupational therapists, speech therapists, biochemists, etc.), there are 912. Others absent are in “management” or another category.

The ability of the troops to remain healthy will be critical to sustaining as many surgeries as possible. According to the ministry, 97% of employees are being vaccinated against COVID-19 and have been given priority in giving the third dose, which is currently underway.