May 2013
1 post
Guest Post on Toronto City Council Motion...
Last week, Toronto City Council made history by voting in favour of putting people’s health before their immigration status. Canadians may be surprised to learn that the universal healthcare system they consider a shining beacon of our humanity denies healthcare services to an estimated 500,000 people in Canada, of which over 100,000 live in Toronto. A report prepared for the Toronto...
April 2013
1 post
Guest Post on Physician-Pharma Relations...
Why do so many doctors still think they are invincible to the influence of the pharmaceutical industry? Attractive, well-dressed, charismatic drug reps with pearly smiles and shiny flow charts still wait in waiting rooms. Lectures and conferences still occur where lunch is paid for by the pharmaceutical industry. Research studies are still published where investigators receive grants from drug...
March 2013
1 post
On Health, Politics and Social Justice
Hello blogosphere!
This month, I was very honoured to have my work profiled in the GTA “South Asian Generation Next” magazine. The original piece can be read here. This opportunity afforded me a lot of time to think about how we choose to represent ourselves in this world - to be true to ourselves but also to be effective in communicating our mesage. Unfortunately, word limits meant...
January 2013
1 post
Bike Infrastructure in Toronto: A Matter of Public...
On November 13th, 2012, my friend and colleague, Dr. Tomislav Svoboda, was arrested while protesting the removal of bike lanes on Jarvis St. in Toronto. He did this knowing the risks because he considered them worthwhile to make a statement about the need for bike infrastructure and the link to public health and safety. I joined him this morning in a press conference presenting this...
December 2012
2 posts
Decoding Refugee Health Cuts: For Frontline...
If you are a frontline healthcare or social service provider in Ontario, Quebec, BC or Alberta, you may find these flowcharts I created helpful to decode refugee health cuts.
Download Ontario flowchart here: http://health4all.ca/IFHCutsFlowchartOntario Download Quebec flowchart here: http://health4all.ca/IFHCutsFlowchartQuebec
Guest Post on Refugee Health Care Cuts (Huffington...
It’s a sad day for refugees looking to Canada for protection. Today, Jason Kenney and the Conservative government announce a controversial list of countries that will determine who does and does not get access to healthcare in this country. This ‘Designated Countries of Origin’ or so-called ‘safe countries’ list singles out refugee claimants from certain countries fast-tracking...
September 2012
1 post
Guest Post on Roma Refugees in Canada (Huffington...
A few nights ago, I watched the North American premiere of the film ‘Just the Wind’ at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film’s raw depiction of the experience of racism and oppression experienced by the Roma people left me deeply disturbed. The family portrayed in this film lives in a poor, rural area of Hungary facing daily discrimination and harassment while...
July 2012
2 posts
Guest Post on How to Fight Refugee Health Cuts...
On April 25, Jason Kenney, our Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, announced cuts to Canada’s refugee health insurance, to go into effect the day before Canada Day. What followed has been an unprecedented mobilization across the country denouncing these cuts.
Arguments have been made on multiple bases: the unfairness and cruelty of these cuts, the harm to the...
Op-Ed on Refugee Health and Uninsured (Rabble.ca)
In a shocking move, the Canadian government is cutting access to health care for refugees across Canada starting on June 30. Health groups are loudly denouncing cuts to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) that provides temporary healthcare to refugees and asylum seekers in Canada.
Disregard for health and human rights If these cuts are implemented, all refugees will lose access...
June 2012
1 post
Guest Post on Refugee Health Cuts and Physician...
In a time of government austerity and popular opposition, we have grown accustomed to the sight of people taking to the streets. But physicians demonstrating en masse? Now that’s not something you see every day! The action began on May 11, and it hasn’t stopped yet.
That day, 90 physicians occupied the office of Conservative MP Joe Oliver in Toronto in response to proposed...
May 2012
1 post
Guest Post Summarizing the Refugee Health Cuts...
In 2011, Su-Yun Kim and her husband arrived in Canada hoping for a better life, as many refugee claimants do. In North Korea where they were born and raised, Su-Yun’s husband was involved in political activity, necessitating that they flee from their loved ones and their home for safety. With difficulty, they managed to escape through China and arrived in Canada, a foreign land with...
April 2012
2 posts
Op-Ed on Bill C-31 Affecting Migrant Health...
This winter, Jason Kenney introduced Bill C-31, the Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act, in Parliament. We have been watching the debate around this bill with some concern. It seems that Kenney believes the system needs protection from migrants. We, on the other hand, believe migrants, particularly refugees, need protection from his bill.
We are a group of primary care physicians...
1 tag
Income Inequality, Public Health and How I Met...
Michael Bloomberg: The Public Health Mayor Just a few days ago, I had the rare opportunity to meet Michael Bloomberg. Yes, the Michael Bloomberg. The Mayor of New York City. The namesake of my school, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. A large financial supporter of said school (over 800 million dollars and counting). Incidentally also the 12th richest person in the United...
March 2012
3 posts
On Markets in Healthcare
“A pure free market model simply cannot work in providing health care unless we’re willing to let people who can’t pay die.”
— Fareed Zakaria
Kony 2012: At best ineffective, at worst...
By now, you’ve no doubt heard about KONY 2012, a viral video posted online just five days ago, already boasting over 70 million views. The video, created by the nonprofit organization Invisible Children, stars its founder Jason Russell. It urges people to “Stop Kony” aka leader of the Lords’ Resistance Army, famous for their use of child soldiers in Northern Uganda, and already indicted by the...
Health is a Human Right
“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”
- Universal Declaration...
