Health Manpower: Issues and Goals in Canada1

Each of the countries of the Americas probably has a different set of problems and priorities in health manpower. One hopes, however, that there is sufficient common ground to enable us to learn by sharing our experiences, if for no other reason than to avoid repeating each other’s mistakes. To my knowledge, Canada does not have the answers to the really fundamental questions of , health manpower. What is a reasonable level of service? To what extent might functions discharged by physicians be transferred to allied health professions? What impact might result from changing the organization of health care delivery or the system for remunerating physicians and dentists? To date, these questions have been left in abeyance, most of our attention being given to quantitative problems such as the supply, distribution, and combination of different types of health personnel.