Critical Shortage of Medical Staff

I have recently moved to Vancouver Island where there are almost no family doctors willing to take on new patients. This is a real problem, especially given the huge retirement demographic here. Most cities have a wait list option through the provincial government using an 8-1-1 hotline. However, there is no such list in the second largest city where I live. There is only one drop-in clinic that is usually lined up out the door, so I am terrified of getting sick. There’s nothing worse than standing in a long lineup when you’re feeling awful.

This motivated me to write a letter to my local provincial government representative. I asked why such a populous town had no wait list and why we couldn’t recruit more doctors and nurses from overseas who would love to come to Canada. If they were fast-tracked to get their accreditation approved, we could solve this problem quite quickly. For instance, I used to go to a clinic in my former town where all the doctors were South African. Obviously, they had banded together to set up their own practice, which was very successful.

Given the current pandemic, when doctors and nurses are in short supply and are getting burnt out from being overworked, this would solve two problems at once. We could better staff our Covid clinics and hospitals and provide more family doctors for the community.

Some might say that other countries need to keep all their medically trained personnel to deal with their own pandemic back home, but perhaps there are a few countries that at rich in doctors, like India. We have so many Indian specialists here already and their training seems excellent. Of course, they all speak English as well so there is no language barrier.

Have you had any difficulties finding a family doctor where you live? Please share your thoughts.

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Recurring Nightmares