Join the Student Debates and Dialogue Committee for a timely discussion on improving the quality of healthcare in Canada.
About
Canada’s public healthcare system has recently been declared in crisis, as our current healthcare infrastructures buckle under the large demand on its resources, and simultaneous shortages of funding, adequate staff support and compensation, and more. As these problems trickle down to the provincial level, hospitals around Ontario have found themselves faced with an overwhelming number of hospital admissions, forcing these hospitals to make tough decisions including but not limited to re-allocating patients out of hospitals and into the community, having health care workers work overtime and temporarily closing emergency rooms.
Recently, the matter of healthcare has been rated as the #1 “Top Unprompted National Issue of Concern” by members of the public. As such, critics have questioned the Ontario government regarding their plans to alleviate the strain on Ontario’s public healthcare system, and whether privatized healthcare could be a potential source of relief for this crisis. This shift towards privatization has reignited the long-standing debate over the privatization of the healthcare system.
In Public vs. Private Healthcare: A Conversation with Dr. Shoo Lee, join us for the Hart House Students Debates and Dialogues Committee’s 2022 Keynote as we discuss the benefits, drawbacks and roles that private and public healthcare systems can have. We will explore questions such as: “Is a private or public healthcare system the preferred model for getting higher levels of specialized care to patients with shorter wait times?”, “Would a private healthcare system lead to inequity in healthcare access?” and more.
To attend the HHSDDC’s Keynote Event with Dr. Lee, please register to join us on Wednesday, January 18, 2023 from 6:00-8:00PM in the Hart House Great Hall.
Keynote Speaker
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Dr Shoo K. Lee
Dr. Shoo K. Lee, OC, DHC, FRCPC, PhD, MBBS
Dr. Shoo Lee is a neonatologist and health economist. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto, and Honorary Staff Pediatrician at Mount Sinai Hospital. He was formerly Pediatrician-in-Chief and Director of the Maternal Infant Care Research Center at Mount Sinai Hospital, and Scientific Director of the Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Dr. Lee received his medical degree from the University of Singapore, completed his paediatric training at the Janeway Children's Hospital in Newfoundland and neonatal fellowship training at Boston’s Children’s Hospital, and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada. He received his PhD in Health Policy (Economics) from Harvard University, and the Doctorate Honoris Causa in Medicine from Laval University.
His research focuses on health policy and quality improvement. He established the Canadian Neonatal Network which conducts collaborative research to improve neonatal care in 30 hospitals and 17 universities across Canada, and leads the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Team in Maternal-Infant Care. He has received many awards for his work, including the Knowledge Translation Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Aventis Pasteur Research Award and Distinguished Neonatologist Award from the Canadian Paediatric Society, and the Douglas K. Richardson Lifetime Achievement in Perinatal & Pediatric Healthcare Research Award from the Society for Pediatric Research. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada.
