Ottawa - The federal government is scheduled to present the budget on Thursday against the backdrop of numerous national and international emergencies and major funding commitments.

The head responsible for that list touches on Canada's struggling healthcare systems, which were highlighted when the pandemic lasted for two years, and this sector is likely to continue struggling under the massive backlog of surgeries.

While many of the issues the government is looking to resolve require multi-billion dollar solutions, groups representing exhausted healthcare workers say their first demand is relatively cheap: they just want a plan.

Dr. Catherine Smart, president of the Canadian Medical Association, said: "The human health resource crisis has become so severe and significantly affects our ability to care for people."

Their professional associations say doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers have reduced their working hours and left the healthcare sector in large numbers, but there is no national plan to know exactly how many have been lost or how to replace them.

Several groups, including the CMA, have met to call on the federal government to move forward with a human resources strategy that would count, train, and retain healthcare professionals to keep Canada's health systems robust.

Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, said: "It is illogical that in 2022, we do not know how many personal care workers we have in this country: "We don't know how many nurses will retire."

Silas said health professionals have been asking the federal government for a data-based plan for a decade now.

She added: "We have been warning them, you will face another shortage." "If we want to continue supporting our program, we need to support the workforce in it."

Smart said the initial cost to launch the idea would be small, up to two million dollars—a trivial amount in the scope of the federal budget. She said this relatively small amount could mean the government would gain more benefits later, and Canadians would get a better system.

"You can fund it, but what are the results we get? What is the quality? How do we ensure that our system moves forward in a way that makes these investments truly pay off for Canadians?"

This does not mean that the government is not planning significant spending to deal with the repercussions of COVID-19 and any future virus waves.

Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos announced a total amount of 2 billion dollars to help provinces work through thousands of surgeries and procedures delayed during the pandemic.

Although provinces are grateful for this support, they have demanded a sustainable increase in federal health transfers so they can make more systematic improvements to their systems.

Premiers across the country have repeatedly asked the federal government to raise its share of healthcare costs to 35 percent from 22 percent—an increase of about 28 billion dollars.

They have also requested funding increases of at least five percent annually, arguing that the current three percent figure means transfers do not keep up with annual cost increases.

Selina Robinson, British Columbia’s Minister, said: "We hope the federal budget will have a stronger commitment to help us keep up with the demands on our healthcare system through increased and predictable federal funding from the Canada Health Transfer."

It is unclear whether sustainable health funding will make the budget, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has previously indicated he plans to wait until the COVID-19 crisis is over before starting negotiations with provinces and territories.

Instead, the ruling party has provided more targeted funds, such as 250 million dollars in the recent election to expand access to family doctors and primary care teams in 2022.

Alberta's Finance Minister, Travis Toews, says he is particularly concerned about the government's proposed plans for dental care and pharmacy.

The government is expected to make a significant investment in dental care in this budget, as a condition of the Liberals' deal with the New Democratic Party to keep the government in power until 2025. Details have not yet been disclosed.

Smart said the government needs to think about the future of Canadian healthcare as it deals with COVID-19 while developing the health system at the same time.

She said: "I think the concern is that you keep adding plans and measures, but you haven't actually fixed the foundation."

She said that so far, the government seems to understand that Canada cannot solve healthcare problems without addressing the fundamental crisis of human resource shortages.

She added: "I think we neglect these basic issues, and then they kind of come back to haunt you later."

Edited by: Dima Abu Khair