![Quebec Public Health Director Dr. Horacio Arruda offers to resign](https://i.cbc.ca/1.6192927.1632869385!/cpImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_620/covid-que-20210928.jpg)
Quebec Public Health Director Dr. Horacio Arruda offers to resign
CBC
Quebec's public health director has offered to resign, suggesting in a letter to Quebec Premier François Legault he be replaced.
"I consider it appropriate to offer you the possibility of replacing me before the end of the term of my mandate," Dr. Horacio Arruda wrote.
He wrote, should the premier wish that he continue, he will continue to serve.
The letter comes as hospitals across the province reach their highest alert, reducing services in the face of overcrowding brought on by the Omicron variant. On Monday, Quebec reported 2,554 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 248 in intensive care.
Journalists have routinely asked Legault if he still has faith in Arruda, who has been in the position nearly 12 years. The premier has defended him every time.
"With my colleagues over the past two years, we have fought tirelessly to minimize the impact of this terrible COVID-19 pandemic," Arruda wrote.
"In a context of uncertainties and rapid advances in knowledge, we issued public health opinions and made recommendations, the best possible, to support the government in its decision-making in a timely manner."
Various expert opinions and public-health standards have been taken into account when making those recommendations, Arruda wrote.
"We have paid particular attention to our most vulnerable populations and taken into account the significant impacts of the proposed measures on the multiple determinants of health and the health-care network."