Manon Massé, co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, is calling on Health Minister Gaétan Barrette to "clean up" the province's health system after spending a month in a rehabilitation centre with a fractured femur.
"I say to Mr. Barrette, come with me here in the centre for a few days and you'll see that what you did," Massé told CBC Daybreak. "It's a disaster."
She's been in the rehabilitation wing of a long-term care facility — a CHSLD in Verdun — since sustaining a skiing injury about a month ago.
Massé, who's an MNA for the east end downtown Montreal riding of Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques, said there's a lack of resources and organization, and that she would be an outpatient by now if she had gone to the private system.
Although her status as a member of the National Assembly means she has the option to opt for private health care, Massé decided to use the public system on principle.
"It's an opportunity for me to see how it works, to talk to people," she said.
She said that some employees at the CHSLD said the CIUSSS system has made the province's health care services more disorganized, and resources more sparse.
In response to Massé's claims, Public Health Minister Lucie Charlebois's office released a statement saying there has been no cutback in rehabilitation services.
"Our government has invested $60 million in 2016-2017, $69 million in 2017-2018, and $100 million in 2018-2019 in home support," the statement reads.
Charlebois's statement also says that a femur fracture require a "significant rehabilitation time" and that leaves are based on evaluations of each person.