TORONTO, Jan. 29, 2025—Ontarians have waited too long for improvements to health care. Despite renewed commitments, the shortage of doctors in Ontario has shown no improvement in the past year.
According to HealthForceOntario, there are 2,600 vacant physician positions across the province, a number nearly identical to January 2024. With an election set for Feb. 27, Ontario’s Doctors renew their call for immediate action to Stop the Crisis in health care.
Ontario has 2.5 million people who don’t have access to a family doctor—a number projected to climb to 4.4 million by next year. Patients also face unacceptably long wait times for critical surgeries. The average wait for hip replacement surgery is 276 days, 303 days for knee replacements, and 282 days for cataract surgery. These delays leave Ontarians in pain, struggling to work, or unable to care for their families while they wait for the care they desperately need. Doctors know Ontarians already have enough to worry about, access to health care should be a guarantee.
The severity of the issue was especially evident in Walkerton just weeks ago—when hundreds of patients stood for hours in the snow in hopes of joining the roster of the new doctor in town. Ontarians deserve immediate solutions. Ontario’s doctors are encouraging the government to work with them to make the world class health care this country has to offer accessible to all Ontarians.
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