A major hole in Estevan's medical community has been filled.
The Â鶹´«Ã½AV East Community Health Committee announced Monday that Dr. Medhi Horri has begun practising in the city and will work out of the Estevan Medical Group office. Horri, who comes to Estevan after a stint in Ontario, is a family physician and, most importantly, an anesthetist. St. Joseph's Hospital had been operating without an anesthetist since the departure of Dr. Di Naidu to Saskatoon.
"It's an absolute huge piece of the puzzle to have Dr. Horri here," said Greg Hoffort, executive director of St. Joe's.
Hoffort also thanked Dr. Alain Lenferna, vice-president medical of Sun Country Health Region as well as the anesthetist from the Weyburn General Hospital with helping them cope during the time the hospital was without an anesthetist.
The addition of Horri brings the total of doctors working in Estevan to 11 and is a direct result of the work of the committee which is comprised of representatives from the City of Estevan, RMs of Coalfields, Estevan, Cambria, Browning, Benson and Cymri.
The committee's municipal funding formula is based on a portion of a mill rate applied to the municipalities assessment. The levy was viewed by the committee as the fairest method as it distributes the expenditure equally across all taxpayers in the each municipality based on their assessment. The increase in taxes for the average household is roughly $50 depending on assessment values.
The committee had a busy 2011 with $181,382 spent on recruitment expenditures. Just over $4,000 was directed to accommodation costs while $49,000 went to clinic set up and rent. Capital expenditures were also a prominent part of their work as $256,371 was spent on a new ultrasound machine and office equipment for their physicians.
