Organ donation: Doctors at the Sacre-Coeur Hospital cost three times more than elsewhere

QUÉBEC | Doctors responsible for organ donation at the Sacre-Coeur Hospital in Montreal cost three times more than other hospitals offering the same service, according to information obtained by TVA Nouvelles.

This is the main reason for the closure of this donation center set up under the liberal era of Philippe Couillard in 2013.

The Legault government believes that these specialist physicians should receive the same salary as doctors in other hospitals.

"Why would the doctors at the Sacre-Cœur Hospital pay three times more than doctors working at the CHUM or McGill?" Health Minister Danielle McCann said on Wednesday.

According to the information obtained by TVA Nouvelles, each of the doctors working in this unit received $ 1250 in exchange for an exclusive availability of 24 hours.

However, the center did not give the expected results. Despite the exclusive availability of doctors at the Hôpital du Sacre-Cœur, samples were taken from only 34 donors in 2018. In comparison, the CHUM was able to take samples from 37 donors, without having a dedicated team.

The Minister of Health hopes to reopen the organ donation center as soon as possible.

"We are ready to sit down with the doctors at Sacre-Coeur Hospital to see if there is a pathway," said Danielle McCann.

In the meantime, the minister assures that Hôpital du Sacre-Coeur still has the mandate and the obligation to perform organ harvesting for patients in her institution.

Patients from other hospitals will be redirected to CHUM, Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont or the McGill University Health Center.