Doctors say Quebec unequipped to deal with long-term health effects of COVID-19

Several experts say Quebec’s health care system does not yet have the resources to adequately treat patients with long-acting health problems from COVID-19.

Dr. Alain Piché, who heads one of the three public post-COVID ambulatory clinics in Sherbrooke, wonders how many patients will suffer from the symptoms of the disease for a long time.

“It’s way beyond the already weakened capacity of our health care system,” he said, adding that the waiting list at his clinic is growing daily.

Dr. Emilia Liana Falcone, director of a research unit at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute, says it will take 12 weeks before she can give an accurate estimate of how many patients will suffer from longstanding COVID-19 after contracting the Omicron variant.

“Then we will know if the health care system would be able to treat them all. We will know how many patients will have complications,” she explained.

Doctors Laura Caspin and Audrey Ouaknine work at a clinic in Montreal’s north end. They say the services available to people with longstanding symptoms are not meeting the demand.

“If the management of long term COVID and the services available remain as limited as they are today, it will take forever to fix this,” said Ouakine.

Her colleague is disappointed that patients still have to get information about their condition from the internet, two years after the pandemic began.

“The health care system is still overwhelmed. It’s something that everyone needs to know about, but it’s being pushed aside,” said Caspin.

Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, reported in July that more than half of people with COVID-19 may experience post-virus symptoms — including memory loss, extreme fatigue, generalized pain or insomnia — for more than three months after receiving a positive test result.

In Quebec, up to two million people may have been infected with the Omicron variant, according to Quebec health authorities.

Claudia Hébert is one of those people. The veterinary student at the University of Montreal had to drop her classes because of migraines and memory loss.

“It was my childhood dream to become a veterinarian and I was on the verge of achieving it,” she said. “Now, if someone asks me what I ate yesterday, I can’t remember.”

Several patients have developed serious heart or respiratory problems as a result of the virus. Piché fears they will need specialized care for many years, which will put a heavy burden on the health care system.

The health ministry did not elaborate on its plans to help patients with persistent symptoms.

“A reorganization of services will be put in place to help people with long-standing COVID-19. Details on the deployment of multidisciplinary clinics will be announced in due course,” a spokeswoman, Marie-Hélène Émond, wrote recently in an email.

— This report was first published in English by The Canadian Press on Feb. 19, 2022.