The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
If there is one issue that has dominated the discussion in Flin Flon in recent times, it is the long waits often encountered in booking a doctor's appointment. Stories of residents waiting weeks, even months, to see a doctor have been all too common. Some newcomers to the community have not been able to find a doctor at all. Some argue that our community has too few physicians; others believe that the increasingly common practice of giving doctors a guaranteed salary Ð not one based on the number of patients they see Ð limits appointment availability. Whichever side is right, the end result is the same: our community becomes a less comfortable, desirable place to live, both for long-term residents and those who might consider moving here. As an unsurprising consequence, the hospital emergency room has grown, in the words of Flin Flon's Dr. Peter Kucparic, "overcrowded with non-urgent cases." This is unfortunate in that it ties up precious resources, but when you're sick and can't see a doctor, what choice do you have but to go to the ER? The NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority believes it has found a solution, or at least a partial solution, to the problem: a government-run medical clinic inside the Flin Flon General Hospital. The $1.13-million facility, endorsed and paid for by the Manitoba government, is set to open by year's end. Unlike other injections of cash into our health-care system, this one has proven controversial. Not all citizens see more government control as the answer to our wait-time woes. So often the government is viewed as too slow, clumsy, and top-heavy to bolster efficiencies in the services it provides. Others fail to see merit in spending money on a new clinic when they are content with the privately owned Flin Flon Clinic on Church Street. If the NRHA plans measures to cut down wait times, they ask, why not just implement them now, in our present clinic? In fairness, the debate is not one-sided. Some see a government takeover as advantageous. The NRHA is a government body, and all government bodies fall under the auspices of elected officials. If the NRHA cannot run a competent, satisfactory clinic, then the public will have the option of endorsing parties and politicians who will get the job done. Then there are those who point to the virtues of utilizing vacant, taxpayer-funded space within the hospital, and the NRHA's contention that it will save $200,000 to $300,000 annually with the new setup. This whole debate appeared to be a moot point until last week when the Flin Flon Clinic announced that it will remain open to compete with the NRHA clinic. This is welcome news for a couple of reasons. First, it opens up the possibility of more doctors coming to town. If the Flin Flon Clinic retains some of its present physicians, the NRHA will presumably launch an offensive to fill the empty offices in its clinic. The vice-versa is true, too. Second, the value of competition in any public service Ð heck, in any service, period Ð cannot be underestimated. If we have two clinics competing to meet the public's needs, then both will have to pull out all the stops to win patients over. It's called choice, and it's never a bad thing. Local Angle runs Fridays.
