How death of Indian-origin man exposes Canada’s ‘sick’ healthcare system

The death of Prashant Sreekumar, 44, a father of three in Canada, is shedding light on the state of the country’s healthcare system. Prashant’s family says he was kept waiting for eight hours by staff at the Grey Nuns Hospital in Canada before he collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack.

Prashant was kept waiting despite undergoing an electrocardiogram (ECG) and telling hospital staff that his pain was “15 out of 10”. He was finally called in for treatment but collapsed and died.

This is even more shocking considering Canada has for years touted its publicly funded healthcare system as being among the best in the world.

But how sick is Canada’s healthcare system?

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Let’s take a closer look.

Canada’s healthcare system

First, let’s take a brief look at Canada’s healthcare system — also known as Medicare.

It is mainly funded through taxes. Those who are eligible access services via their provincial or territorial government’s health insurance.

Medicare covers around 70 per cent of healthcare costs, while around 65–70 per cent of Canadians also have private insurance to cover services not included under the public system.

While most procedures are covered by the government, the following are not:

• Cosmetic services

• Private duty nursing services

• Testimony by a physician in court

• Medical certificates for work, school or insurance purposes

• Preferred hospital accommodation unless prescribed by a physician

• Gender therapy

• Psychotherapy

• Dentistry

Canada in 2025 spent about $400 billion (Rs 35.98 lakh crore) on healthcare, which works out to around 12.7 per cent of GDP. This places it among the higher spenders in the OECD.

As of 2024, there are around 17 lakh healthcare workers in Canada. These include nurses, doctors, allied health professionals, aides and technicians.

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As of 2023, Canada had around 97,000 doctors (0.97 lakh) — roughly 2.8 doctors per 1,000 people. This is below the OECD average of around 3.7–3.9 doctors per 1,000 people.

While about half of these are GPs, the rest are surgeons, radiologists and psychiatrists. Canada also has around 3.38 lakh registered nurses.

Not enough staff, doctors and nurses stressed and overworked

Canada is facing the same problems as many other wealthy Western nations. The first is an ageing population. Canadians over 65 now comprise nearly a fifth of the population. That figure is expected to rise to 23–25 per cent by 2040. Most people who require hospital care are seniors.

Canada also faces an acute shortage of doctors and nurses. Only around 1,300 new family medicine graduates enter the workforce each year — far short of what is required. Ottawa estimates that Canada needs around 49 per cent more GPs to adequately meet demand.

The federal government has warned that the country could face a shortage of 78,000 doctors by 2031 and 1.18 lakh nurses by 2030.

Healthcare workers are also under severe strain. A survey found that 79 per cent of healthcare workers are experiencing burnout. Around 49 per cent of family doctors surveyed by the College of Family Physicians of Canada said they were working more hours than they could manage.

As of 2022, 2.67 lakh healthcare workers reported working overtime — the highest number ever recorded.

Four in ten physicians reported experiencing high or severe work-related burnout, affecting their work–life balance. Four out of five doctors also said they had experienced bullying or harassment in the workplace.

Nurses are under similar pressure. In Quebec, around 43 per cent of nurses leave the profession before the age of 35. Nurse turnover rose by 10 per cent in 2022 compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Emergency rooms under strain

According to The Globe and Mail, Canadian emergency rooms have shuttered for at least 11.4 lakh hours since 2019 — equivalent to around 0.48 lakh days of closures.

In 2024, one in five hospitals with emergency departments experienced unplanned short-term closures or reduced hours, largely due to staff shortages.

ER closures are “certainly stressful for a lot of people in the area when you’re used to having a healthcare facility available to you 24 hours a day, five minutes away,” Bonavista Mayor John Norman told the newspaper.

“What we have constantly highlighted to people is that this is a national issue, and there are literally a thousand health facilities across the country that do not have enough staff.”

Some emergency departments take up to 22 hours to transfer patients to hospital beds after a decision to admit has been made.

“The ultimate effect of all that is the patient suffers,” said Aimee Kernick, president of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians.
“We are all overworked and overstressed. To protect ourselves and preserve our ability to keep working, money is not enough anymore.”

Worse patient outcomes

All this has led to poorer patient outcomes.

An Ipsos survey showed that just 56 per cent of Canadians are satisfied with public healthcare.

Those aged 18 and over saw access to primary care decline from 93 per cent in 2016 to 86 per cent in 2023 — meaning an estimated 5–6 million Canadians may no longer have regular access to a family doctor. Only 37.5 per cent can get an urgent appointment within a day.

According to the Canadian Medical Association, non-urgent patients wait over 22 hours for a hospital bed, while urgent patients wait 6.5 to 8.5 hours — consistent with what Prashant’s family described.

According to the Fraser Institute, in 2025 patients waited 28.6 weeks on average from GP referral to specialist treatment.

“Remarkably long wait times for medically necessary care have become the defining characteristic of the Canadian healthcare experience,” said Nadeem Esmail, director of health policy studies at the Fraser Institute.

While this is slightly lower than the 30 weeks recorded in 2024, it remains the second-longest wait on record. In 2019, the wait was 20.9 weeks, and in 1993 just 9.3 weeks.

The longest waits were for neurosurgery (49.9 weeks) and orthopaedic surgery (48.6 weeks). The shortest were for radiation oncology (4.2 weeks) and medical oncology (4.7 weeks).

Canadians also waited long for diagnostic scans — 8.8 weeks for CT scans, 18.1 weeks for MRI scans, and 5.4 weeks for ultrasounds.

“Long wait times can result in increased suffering, lost productivity, reduced quality of life, and in the worst cases, disability or death,” said Mackenzie Moir, senior policy analyst at the Fraser Institute.

Another survey found that over a third of patients waited more than three months to see a specialist after referral, while around a third waited less than a month.

Spending versus outcomes

Canada spends around $7,300 per person (Rs 6.56 lakh) on healthcare, compared with the OECD average of $5,967 (Rs 5.36 lakh).

Despite this, outcomes remain mixed.

There are, however, some positive signs. Temporary hospital closures peaked around 2022–23 and have since slowed. Canada also performs better than many peers on certain health indicators.

Life expectancy remains around 81.6 years, higher than the OECD average. Preventable mortality stands at 113, compared with the OECD average of 158. Just 2.8 per cent of Canadians report their health as poor or very poor. The

It remains to be seen whether Canada can fix what ails its healthcare system.

With inputs from agencies