The executive of the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) has resigned en masse, a week after a non-confidence vote by members.

The move leaves a vacuum, which many in the profession believe will be filled, at least in part, by more militant doctors who are angry with the provincial government.

Many also see the move as bringing the profession one step closer to job action.

Late Monday, the OMA board of directors released a statement saying its six-member executive had elected to step down.

“The board believes that the OMA can now refocus on mounting a strong and united front against a government that is intransigent in its approach to health care and disrespectful of physicians and the role we need to play in health-care reform,” the statement says.

At a Jan. 29 meeting of the OMA’s 260-member governing council, delegates voted 55 per cent in favour of a non-confidence vote against the executive, including president Dr. Virginia Walley.

But executive members survived votes to oust them from their positions.

Nevertheless, many in the profession viewed the executive as a lame duck as a result of the non-confidence vote.

The 25-member board, including the executive, has been meeting over the past week to decide next steps.

“The executive committee determined that it was in the best interest of the OMA for the executive committee to resign from their offices and from the executive committee, effective immediately,” the statement says, adding that they will remain on the board of directors.

“The executive committee is making this choice in the hope that this will help unify doctors and advance the interests of the profession at this critical juncture,” it continues.

The date of an election to replace the existing executive has yet to be determined. The position of president-elect is voted on by council members while the positions of treasurer, board chair and secretary are voted on by the board. (The six executive positions also include those of president and past president.)

The OMA represents 34,000 doctors and medical students. They have been without a contract with the government for three years. A tentative physician services agreement, which had the backing of the OMA executive, was voted down by members in August.

Health Minister Eric Hoskins said in a statement that he remains hopeful an agreement can be reached with the OMA but did not comment on turmoil within the association.

“Once again, I invite the OMA, without any preconditions on either side, to work with us towards and agreement for the physician services budget,” Hoskins said.

“In the meantime, we are working hard to get investments to patients and the front line, including a recent $140 million in hospitals for wait times and growing population of seniors, $100 million in additional home-care hours, $222 million for the First Nations Health Action Plan and launching the country's first-ever comprehensive opioid strategy.”

Physicians are angry that they have gone so long without a contract and that the government has imposed two unilateral rounds of fee cuts.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Especially angry are the highest-paid specialists who have seen their fees cut the most.

The OMA won’t restart negotiations unless the government agrees in advance to go to binding arbitration in the event of an impasse.

But the government has refused because it doesn’t want to hand over control of an $11-billion-plus budget to an arbitrator. As well, it does not want funding decisions to be made separately from decisions on much-needed system reforms.

Physicians are also angry with the province over the state of the system, both in primary-care offices and in hospitals.

Many have been campaigning in byelections for the Conservatives,

Divisions within the profession have been growing with critics of the OMA wanting it to take a harder line with government, including job action.

Those hardliners have been running for elected positions on the OMA’s council and board and it’s now expected some may win seats on the executive.

One of them is Georgetown family doctor and anesthesiologist Nadia Alam. She was recently elected to the board and officially takes her seat there in May. She played a key role in organizing the non-confidence vote against the OMA executive.

“Our health-care system is in crisis and without a collaborative effort between all stakeholders, the prognosis looks grim,” said a news release, issued Monday evening and co-written by her.

“Let the renewal of the OMA board be the spark that leads to a better working relationship between government and physicians,” it continued.