We are in grave danger, we have taken people out of the picture.

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Dr Z. Essak, MD - Vancouver, BC - October 17, 2022

It’s about learning, knowledge, sharing and understanding so we can make our society and the world better.

We are in grave danger. Soon those with memories of how things were different will be gone. We will be left at risk of believing the way we do things is the only way.

We have taken people out of the picture. We have become leaders of entities, not leaders of people.

Now, leaders do not listen to the people. They listen to themselves and each other behind closed doors. They take an oath, a code of conduct, to serve the entity not the people.

We have used a single model where one size does not fit all. Nonetheless, we have applied that model to everything - the Corporate model, ignoring the Community model. We have changed the structure of our institutions and the fabric of our society to our peril.

In BC, in the 1990’s we removed local hospital boards. Where we previously had people throughout the community volunteering and involved on the boards, directly communicating with doctors and health providers in the hospitals. Where, family doctors didn’t stay in their offices, they were also in the hospitals, in the hallways, in the doctors lounge. We substituted all that with management teams that grew and grew along with administration costs.

The results raised many questions and also jokes, like: "He’s choking, is there an administrator in the room?"

Now, we are seeing huge health care costs and the collapse of health care. Is it a surprise? We took the people out of the picture and it falls apart.

In BC, in 2016 we saw the long overdue revision of the Society Act come into effect. It did not strengthen respect for the people that comprise the Society by emphasizing the fiduciary duty of directors to the members. No, it removed that and paved the way such that Societies, even important organizations like our provincial medical association, no longer had the obligation of public disclosure and in the future, if it chooses, it can become a company. Why would we need that? The importance of the people has been taken out. The entity rules.

We have seen the same changes in all the other institutions in our communities throughout the country including the Canadian Medical Association which is now more like a company, in fact it’s now a conglomerate, and 99.6% of physicians have given up on it.

Just like our associations, governments at all levels have become entities unto themselves. They are run by bureaucrats, administrators and staff. Political leaders soon loose their vision of leading people and become servants of the entity. President Bill Clinton once said, it wouldn’t be the first time a bureaucrat lied to the president.

The trend is nearing a disaster. Will we put people back in the picture of society, allow them a voice and listen to them? Will leaders serve people or continue to serve entities?

Do we see it? Or like BC doctors in the 1980’s would say, “Do we have mural dyslexia? The inability to read the writing on the wall.”

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