Doug Ford defends health-care treatment at Ontario pharmacies [Video]

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is defending his government’s decision to allow pharmacists to handle more ailments instead of doctors, saying it’s one of the most popular moves his government has made.

The Ford government announced last week that it has started consultations on expanding the number of health problems patients can get treatment for at pharmacies.

“You know, we’re backlogged. The docs don’t have a lack of customers,” Ford said at an unrelated announcement Monday when asked about criticism that the move looks like an effort to privatize health-care services. “If I had $1 for every time someone said ‘I need to get an appointment with my family physician, I can’t get it.’”

The government started allowing people to consult with pharmacists for problems like cold sores, pink eye, and urinary tract infections in January 2023. Since then, the province says, pharmacists have completed more than one million assessments to …