A new mobile clinic hopes to help serve Montreal families

Pediatricians hitting the road Dr. Rislaine Benkelfat discusses Mobiclinique, a group planning to bring health care to neighbourhoods around Montreal

A group of entrepreneurs has a novel idea to offer children better access to healthcare: Ma MobiClinique.

It's a new mobile pediatric clinic that goes into various neighbourhoods, as well as straight to family homes.

Dr. Rislaine Benkelfat, a pediatrician with the Montreal Children's Hospital, said she sees this as a solution to some of the problems she is seeing in her practice.

While the concept of a mobile clinic isn't new and is done elsewhere, a pediatric clinic would be new to Quebec.

Its aim would be to provide primary and secondary care – not emergency services – but treatment similar to a clinic.

Doctors would work under the RAMQ, and the service would be free of charge for patients.

The first step will be a pilot project in the fall, identifying the needs of parents and children in the Southwest borough, and then next year, get a bus on the road.

The entrepreneurs behind the project want to develop an app on which parents could book an appointment the night before.

Benkelfat said there are too many children in underprivileged areas that are not getting the treatment they need; a mobile clinic will help break down some of those barriers.

“There are different barriers that have been identified. People think transport, distance, having a doctor, money issues, are many of the barriers. You also have difficulties navigating the system, understanding the complexities of how to get through to the doctors. These are just some of the barriers that have been reported by families to us,” she said.

Benkelfat said they are in talks with Quebec right now and are seeking donations or support from foundations in order to get the project on the road.

Watch the interview above for more details and visit the Ma MobiClinique website here.