TORONTO | Dr. Arlene King is on record as predicting that Ontario is “well-prepared” for whatever happens this flu season. The provincial chief medical officer of health says Ontario has been preparing for an influenza pandemic for years, with continual updates to its 2004 plan to reflect new knowledge.

“While it’s impossible to know exactly what to expect, Ontario is planning for a busier-than-usual flu season and a higher demand than usual for both primary and hospital care,” a Sept. 3 news release by her states.

Meanwhile, at the Ontario Medical Association, president Dr. Suzanne Strasberg is concerned that both physicians and patients “are realizing many of their questions regarding the novel H1N1 flu virus remain unanswered.”

Dr. Strasberg, in an editorial in the September issue of the OMA’s magazine for members, expressed the fear of uncertainty. “It is impossible to know whether this pandemic flu will come back with a vengeance or whether it will just be one of several influenza strains that are part of a normal flu season,” she said.

In July, the OMA assembled a seven-person working group, headed by Stoney Creek, Ont., general practitioner Dr. Scott Wooder, to deal with pandemic planning on an urgent basis and outline priority issues and challenges to be raised directly with health ministry staff.

The group has identified vaccines, antiviral drugs, infection control, patient screening and testing, treatment centres and communicating with physicians as primary topics.

While the OMA apparently hasn’t negotiated any financial terms with the province, Dr. Strasberg in her editorial acknowledged the importance of the issue.

“We do not want members to lose income due to a public health emergency, and we want them to be made whole financially if their usual practice volumes are affected,” she said.

“We need to safeguard the health of our members by making sure they have protective equipment and that their families will receive insurance benefits if they die or become disabled as a result of performing their duty to the public.”

Some of the three dozen questions the working group has come up with, outlined in the September OMA members’ publication, include:

• If a priority list of patients is developed, will physicians be asked to “police” vaccine priorities?
• How will the provincial stockpile of antiviral drugs be used and distributed, and how will that plan be communicated clearly to patients, and how will physicians be informed of this?
• What is the plan if an antiviral resistant strain of H1N1 develops?
• How will physicians balance patient needs with ministry screening and testing guidelines?
• Will the approach for setting up assessment and treatment centres vary by community?
• Does the ministry propose to keep physicians informed of H1N1 developments this fall?