242 doctors sign op-ed urging action on ‘system-wide crisis’

By ZOE MASON on January 15, 2026.

Hundreds of doctors across the province have signed support for an opinion piece written by two Edmonton-based emergency physicians pleading for system leaders to restore integration and co-ordination across the health-care system.

Dr. Warren Thirsk and Dr. Greg Hrynchyshyn described a “system-wide crisis” in the op-ed published by the Edmonton Journal last week.

The Alberta Medical Association published a short statement Tuesday in support of the Jan. 9 op-ed. AMA’s support was endorsed and signed by the 242 physicians.

Five physicians based in Medicine Hat were included in a group of 242 General Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine physicians from across Alberta who endorsed the op-ed.

In the article, Thirsk and Hrynchyshyn say individual physicians are responsible for more patients who can be safely managed. The safe ratio is one doctor to every 18 patients, but they say current ratios are frequently one doctor to every 25 patients or more.

“This isn’t a short-term surge – it’s a sustained, chronic operational shortfall,” they wrote.

“Redistribution doesn’t create capacity; it disperses risk across an already strained system. Reliance on these measures has failed, and a long-term solution with a timely implementation plan has yet to be tabled.”

The doctors outlined four measures they say would help address root causes and implement practical solutions: safe patient thresholds and supports, improved discharge co-ordination, integrated load levelling and modernized surge protocols.

AMA calls these solutions essential steps toward restoring safety, reliability and functionality within the health-care system.

The op-ed also references a culture in the province’s health-care sector that discourages criticism.

The UCP government has stated that former AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos was dismissed for obstructing the implementation of the recent reforms. She has since launched a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the provincial government.

Both Mentzelopoulos and a former AHS board director both told the Globe and Mail they experienced harassment and intimidation as a result of their dissent.

“Government officials have stated that Alberta is innovating and moving toward a “European-style health-care model,” wrote Thirsk and Hrynchyshyn.

“In these countries, patient flow, safety and resource allocation are managed seamlessly. Physicians are encouraged to voice capacity concerns as they arise and are viewed as champions of system efficiency, not as obstructionists.”

The op-ed argues that a root cause of the current health-care crisis in the province is the loss of high-level integration, which the physicians blame on the ongoing system refocusing.

Medicine Hat emergency physician Dr. Paul Parks, who has been a vocal critic of the health-care refocusing, signed his support for the op-ed.

Other local physicians who attached their names to the article include David Sameshima, Ryan Currah, Anil Keshvara and Ion Leah.