Flin Flon is back up to full staff in terms of physicians, but MLA Tom Lindsey believes there still aren’t enough of them.
Dr. George Botrous and Dr. Raphael Faraj left the local clinic over the summer. Two new physicians, Dr. Farnoosh Soltani and Dr. Silvia George, started at the clinic this month.
Another physician, Dr. Andrea Thwala, will leave the clinic in October. At that point, the clinic will have three physicians and two nurse practitioner positions – the staffing level funded by the provincial government.
Lindsey said that level is insufficient to meet the needs of Flin Flon and surrounding communities that utilize the clinic.
“If people are still having trouble getting in to see a doctor in a timely fashion, then clearly there’s a problem,” he said, referring to complaints he has received about wait times.
Lindsey said physician turnover is also a concern, forcing patients to find new family doctors every time one of them leaves the community.
He believes bringing newer technology, such as MRIs, to northern hospitals would encourage doctors to stay longer, as they would have more opportunity to specialize in a particular area of care.
Lindsey also favours negotiating with doctors about possible training sabbaticals, helping them keep up with the latest technology.
Twyla Storey, communications coordinator for the Northern Health Region (NHR), said recruitment and retention of physicians and primary care providers “is an ongoing process” for the NHR, which continues “to work on this to meet the needs of the communities we serve.”
“The NHR’s priority is to ensure patient needs are met and planning is ongoing to meet those needs,” she added. “The turnover of physicians within the region is nothing new, and in fact occurs on an annual basis in late summer or early fall. Each year the region does its best to manage this to reduce the impact on the people we serve.”
Storey said the clinic will provide locum coverage in September and October to support patient needs as required.
The NHR is also exploring other primary care providers who can provide additional support, she said.
A Manitoba Health spokesperson said provincial funding for doctor and nurse practitioner positions in Flin Flon does take into account patients who travel to the community from outlying areas.
The spokesperson confirmed the PC government is funding the same number of positions for Flin Flon as did the previous NDP government.
Of the two nurse practitioners at the clinic, one is full-time and one is part-time, with the latter being seconded to UCN on a part-time basis in order to teach an LPN course.
Storey said the NHR is currently recruiting to fill the other half-time position.
A third provincially funded nurse practitioner, Amy Sapergia Green, has left the clinic to focus on home care clients through a newly created position.
Wait times at the clinic aside, Lindsey said he is troubled by Premier Brian Pallister’s consideration of health care premiums – a tax paid by patients – across Manitoba.
“It’s cutting into the whole concept of universality,” he said.
Lindsey said the PC government has already cut health care services, so a premium would see Manitobans pay more for less.
Proponents of health care premiums argue they may be necessary given the federal government is reducing the growth rate in health care transfers in 2018.
They also point to growing health care costs and a statistic showing more than 70 per cent of Canadians already pay some form of health care premium in their province.
Residents of several provinces that already charge premiums pay between $0 and $1,000 per year, usually based on their incomes, according to the Winnipeg Free Press.
