Physicians sign on for 4 years

Seven internationally trained doctors have signed return-of-service agreements requiring them to work in six rural communities in southwestern Manitoba due to a shortage of family physicians.

The doctors will practise in Killarney, Minnedosa, Ste. Rose, Russell, Rossburn and Shoal Lake starting in the fall, said Tamara Kemp-Boulet, physician recruitment and retention co-ordinator for Prairie Mountain Health.

The agreement commits them to staying in the community for four years.

Husband and wife Shamsudeen and Olamide Usman are among those who were recruited by Prairie Mountain Health through the University of Manitoba Medical Licensure Program for International Medical Graduates.

The Usmans will finish the one-year training program this June in Winnipeg before they begin practising family medicine at the Tri-Lake Health Centre in Killarney this August.

While the doctors have been to the community many times with their three children, a recent site visit at the hospital solidified their choice to practise there.

“It was recently renovated and then it makes it look brand new, and it’s so well equipped,” Olamide told the Sun.

“I feel like we are going to enjoy it because it already feels like home. The community has been so welcoming,” she said.

The international medical graduates program receives upwards of 1,000 applications every year and only 30 applicants are accepted.

The regional health authority typically places seven to eight graduates in rural communities on an annual basis, Kemp-Boulet said.

Olamide, who graduated from medical school in 2018 and Shamsudeen, who graduated in 2017, moved from Nigeria to Ontario four years ago.

The doctors started working at the Brandon Regional Health Centre in 2024 as clinical assistants before they were accepted into the University of Manitoba’s training program in July last year.

Working in Brandon’s hospital gave them a better understanding of providing patient centred care to rural areas in Prairie Mountain Health, Shamsudeen said.

“It was an eye-opener,” he said, adding that physicians can get to know their rural patients more personally by seeing them in a health-care setting and out in the community.

“One of the things that really like caught our attention when we first came to Manitoba in 2024 was how friendly people are,” Shamsudeen said.

Killarney was at the top of their list when it came time to confirm their placement under a four-year return-of-service agreement with the regional health authority, he said.

“It’s a vibrant, beautiful small town,” he said. The doctors expect to live in the community long-term and look forward to getting to know their future patients and spending time near the lake with their children.

Doctors Karen Aquino and Moazzam Raza will be based in Minnedosa, Dr. Saleema Arif will practise in Ste. Rose, Dr. Porimol Debnath will be in Russell and Dr. Ana Hernandez will provide care in Rossburn and Shoal Lake, Kemp-Boulet said.

These communities were identified in having a shortage of doctors around November and recruitment efforts continue for other areas in Westman, she said.

Prairie Mountain Health organizes site visits with doctors, so they can get accustomed to relocating to an area that suits their needs. These visits can include checking out daycares, schools, recreation activities, touring the health-care facility and meeting with council members and real estate agents, Kemp-Boulet said.

“It’s not just about the recruitment portion. It’s a lot to do with the retention,” she said.

“We want these physicians to come to a rural community with their families and integrate.”

Killarney Turtle-Mountain Mayor Janice Smith said she is thrilled to welcome two more doctors, bringing their complement of physicians to five.

“That will mean a family physician for everybody in the area,” she said.

“Our doctors that have been here have been really wonderful at taking care of the community, but this will alleviate, definitely, some stress on them as Prairie Mountain Health did give us an ER 24-7 renovation.”

Similar to other Westman communities, Killarney has struggled to recruit and retain health-care workers, Smith said. The Tri-Lake Health Centre was down to a single physician more than three years ago.

Over the holidays, the emergency department temporarily shut down for 24 hours from 8 a.m. on Christmas Day until 8 a.m. on Boxing Day, according to an online schedule. Three permanent doctors were away, and a locum doctor had called in sick, Smith said.

The municipality, which has a population of roughly 3,650 people, will rely on locum physician coverage from Virden and Winnipeg until the Usmans arrive in the summer, “and then we’ll go from there,” Smith said.

She encourages other Westman communities to never stop recruiting doctors and nurses.

Recruiting doctors Aquino and Raza will bring the Minnedosa Health Centre’s complement of physicians to six, said Minnedosa Mayor Ken Cameron.

“There’s always a need to have more … but for us, adding two is huge, and it helps a lot of people in the area,” he said.

“(It) takes the pressure off the other hospitals, like Brandon, for example … and should help alleviate some of the problems going forward for Neepawa as they open their new facility and look for staff there as well,” Cameron said.

During the holiday season, Minnedosa’s ER was open 24-7 from Dec. 22-28, but shut down for 48 hours between Dec. 29 and 31, an online schedule showed.

Whenever the ER temporarily closes, it’s because there’s a shortage of nurses or laboratory technologists, he said.

Struggling to recruit doctors or health-care professionals is “just the nature of the business,” he said, adding that it takes time to hire new workers willing to move to rural areas.

He finds it encouraging when new doctors say they plan to stay in the community long-term.

Doctors Manitoba president Dr. Nichelle Desilets said in a statement that she welcomes the new physicians to southwestern Manitoba.

“This is great news to cap off what’s turned into a record-breaking year for doctor recruitment,” said Desilets, who’s also a family physician in Neepawa.

“Manitoba is doing better on recruitment, but when it comes to retaining doctors, our statistics are among the worst in the country. Retention must be the health system’s resolution and focus for 2026,” she said.

The province lost 8.3 physicians per 1,000 to other provinces in 2024, the second worst in Canada following New Brunswick, according to an October 2025 report by Doctors Manitoba.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com