News & Events

David Yazbeck Appears Before Standing Committee on Social Policy

October 6, 2009

Along with Dr. Linda Rapson, and representing the Ontario Society of Physicians for Complementary Medicine (OSPCM), David Yazbeck recently appeared before the Ontario Legislature's Standing Committee on Social Policy.

OSPCM is an organization founded in 1997 and incorporated in 2006 as a not-for-profit medical society to serve as an umbrella body for physicians practising a variety of time-tested or innovative, evidence-informed health care approaches and techniques that complement and integrate with those taught in western allopathic medical schools. Such approaches and techniques are important to assist patients with chronic or emerging conditions who are not well-served by, or do not choose prevailing methods, and might otherwise have to go out-of-province or out-of-country for care.

The Committee is presently considering Bill 179, an omnibus bill intended to improve health care in Ontario but with many amendments concerning how health care professionals are regulated. Many of OSPCM's members have grave concerns about the manner in which the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) continues to treat them under the current legislation. By appearing before the Committee, the group intended "to help the government meet its goals for Bill 179 by focusing on potential amendments to Bill 179 to address needs for peer evaluation and procedural safeguards for both health professionals and their colleges."

Mr. Yazbeck assisted the OSPCM in preparing its brief and presenting it to the Committee. The full text of the brief can be found here.

OSPCM is hopeful that the government takes notice of these serious concerns and addresses them through legislative change.