The new president of the Canadian Medical Association said Canada needs to look to European countries that have restored their health-care systems by including private clinics and changing funding formulas.

Dr. Robert Ouellet told CTV's Question Period on Sunday that Canada's health-care system is not sustainable and will need the help of the private sector to get back on track.

Ouellet, who owns five private MRI clinics in Montreal, said Canadians are too "dogmatic" about the debate over public versus private health care and need to be more open to the best solutions for a broken system.

"We have to think about the patient and not be dogmatic about it," said Ouellet, who became CMA president on Wednesday. "And that's the problem in Canada. We're very dogmatic about public and private, and you know this public and private system exists everywhere in the world except three countries: Canada, Cuba and North Korea."

Ouellet said the goal is not to privatize Canada's health-care system or to have a U.S.-style system. Instead, he suggests that private clinics could ease the patient load on an over-burdened public system.

"For example, a surgeon could do 90 per cent of his surgery in the public system but if there's no operating room available then he could do maybe five or 10 per cent of his practice in the private sector," Ouellet said. "But then you don't need to lose that surgeon in the public sector because he's doing a small part of his practice in the private sector."

For years, patients in Quebec have been allowed to hold private health insurance that covers services such as MRIs, Ouellet said.

They can choose to have such services in private clinics and only have to pay about 20 per cent of the cost.

A brain MRI at one of Ouellet's clinics costs about $650 but a patient may only end up paying just over $100 for the service, he said.

"Patients are ready to pay for that because $100 for an MRI exam is not that expensive," Ouellet said. "But I understand that it's not for everyone. That's why we need to improve the public sector, too, because it's not the only solution to have some intervention from the private sector."