Manitoba seeks help to fill physician gap

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This article was published 19/04/2023 (1269 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Westman community is putting its faith in the provincial government to attract new doctors to its hospital, while another local municipality has already taken matters into its own hands.

Hamiota Mayor Randy Lints said his community will not hire a firm to recruit new doctors but will instead trust the province when it comes to staffing physicians across Manitoba.

On Monday, Health Minister Audrey Gordon announced her government is seeking a recruiting firm to help find 150 doctors for health regions across Manitoba, in response to criticism from the New Democrats about the province’s ongoing physician shortage.

Shared Health has invited prospective recruiters to submit proposals to secure physicians: 50 doctors for the Prairie Mountain, Interlake and Southern health regions, 50 for the Northern region and another 50 for Winnipeg, all requiring a commitment to work four years in each community.

However, Lints is concerned about the potential competition that could arise between municipalities, because 50 doctors divided between three health regions may not be enough.

“When it comes time to divvy those up, I’m hoping Hamiota’s on the list, and I’m sure the same can be said for places like Virden and Russell. But I’m putting our faith that PMH will come through for us, they know better where the priorities are, and it’s kind of out of our hands,” he said.

In the Municipality of Killarney-Turtle Mountain, there has been a shortage of doctors since last spring, when the two full-time physicians’ contracts expired, leaving 3,500 residents with a rotation of medical staff who work at the clinic, personal care home and hospital.

That’s why municipal council decided to issue a request for proposal earlier this year to hire a firm to find them two doctors, like it did in 2016. The same firm they hired at that time was recently chosen to recruit two more doctors, according to Mayor Janice Smith.

“We did end up getting the same recruitment company that we had the last time, and they are looking in the United States, England and Ireland for us,” Smith said. “In fact, the previous doctors they found for us were from England and Ireland.”

Seven years ago, it cost $245,000 to hire the recruitment firm, which was approved by PMH. The health region also supported the municipality with a payment of $120,000 back then, but it’s not yet known what the cost will be this time, or what portion of the funding PMH will offer.

That’s an expensive agreement for a municipality to take on, Lints said, although it might be worth it since his community will soon be losing one of its three doctors.

“It’s not cheap, but you do get the service agreement and don’t pay anything until the doctor signs on the dotted line,” said Lints. “So, you are guaranteeing your facility has a doctor for four years in partnership with Prairie Mountain Health, but still, that’s a lot of money to put out.”

When asked how many doctors PMH will request from the province, and which towns and hospitals will be prioritized, CEO Brian Schoonbaert said in an email: “Prairie Mountain Health welcomes and supports the latest provincial measure on physician recruitment services and looks forward to following up on results.”

NDP Leader Wab Kinew said he believes the 50 doctors allocated for three rural health regions won’t even meet the needs of PMH, adding the only competition should be between provinces, not municipalities.

“We have to be competitive,” said Kinew. “Let’s remember that Saskatchewan, Ontario and all the other provinces are competing for this health-care talent. It’s long past due that Manitoba gets in the game with a competitive offer and a better, more meaningful environment to work in.”

Doctors Manitoba, a physician advocacy group, made several recommendations to the provincial government last year regarding what it said is needed to retain and recruit more doctors to rural communities, including financial incentives.

With 43 per cent of doctors planning on retiring, moving away or reducing their hours in the next three years, there needs to be recruitment incentives to compete with other provinces, according to an email statement from a Doctors Manitoba spokesperson.

The deadline for Shared Health’s request for proposal is May 10.

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