Canada lags behind other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in terms of the number of doctors per population and spending on primary care, according to a new analysis published in the Journal of the Canadian Medical Association. .

"Health systems with strong primary care have better outcomes, lower costs, and better equity," the study's 9 authors write.

However, even at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, about 17% of people in Canada reported not having a regular primary care physician.
   Meanwhile, Canada is seeing declining enrollment in family medicine as a specialty among medical students, with more graduating family physicians opting to avoid general office care, the analysis shows. After the pandemic, 22 percent of adults in Canada — more than 6.5 million people — don't have a family doctor they can go to regularly for care.

To solve these problems, the authors say, Canada should learn from the successes of other OECD countries with high rates of patients registered with primary care physicians.


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