Health providers in Canada have expressed concern in the weeks leading up to Christmas and the New Year that the country’s overburdened healthcare system could see a dangerous surge in the number of patients in emergency rooms, encouraging prospective patients to exhaust other available options before going to hospitals.

The holidays approach following the publication of reports this month that wait times to see doctors in Canada, particularly specialists, are longer than even in the modern history of the country, and thousands of Canadians are dying on waitlists for life-saving medical interventions.

Canada boasts a public universal h