The difference a Day makes

The election to the post of president elect of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) of Brian Day, a British born orthopaedic surgeon who is also president of a large private Canadian hospital, has intensified debate about the place of private health care in a country that prides itself on its publicly funded national healthcare system.

Dr Brian Day: “Canadians are not being well served” by the present healthcare system

Credit: CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

Day was elected at the association's annual policy conference last month and takes over the presidency from family physician Colin McMillan next August.

His supporters include 15 past presidents of the British Columbia Medical Association (www.brianday.ca/letter-bcmapresidents.html), who assured CMA delegates that they should not be worried that with Day as president the association would turn into a private care advocate, because “the CMA is a truly democratic organisation and it is simply not possible for a president to hijack the agenda.”

Day's critics are concerned about his past pronouncements, which include calling for the repeal of the Canada Health Act, on which …