The move to establish the Family Medicine Residency program in southeast Saskatchewan, namely Estevan and Weyburn, is catching the interest of a number of civic leaders and administrators.
"The goal is to be involved. We have applied for these people to do their two-year residency in Estevan," said Greg Hoffort, executive director for St. Joseph's Hospital.
The Sun Country Health Region recently issued a statement indicating they have arranged meetings with the provincial College of Medicine to pave the path toward welcoming four resident family physicians by the summer of 2014, but various steps had to be formalized before that. Those steps would include participation of physicians already practising in the health region, so to that end, they have arranged a meeting in May with local doctors to see where they might contribute to the project.
"These residents would be physicians who have already graduated, they would be able to see patients on a regular schedule so then the program becomes a big recruiting windfall too," said Hoffort.
The resident doctors get comfortable with their surroundings, establish working relationships with their patients and medical community and often decide to stay just where they are once their two-year residency obligation is over.
Hoffort said that in regions (Swift Current and Prince Albert) where the program already exists, the resident physician retention rate is about 50 per cent.
Since Estevan has just recently emerged from an acute shortage of physicians, the St. Joe's administrator said the residency program in the local region would mean that "we won't have to be where we just were. We came out of that shortage. We now have 11 physicians in Estevan and if we could have four more family physicians working between Estevan and Weyburn, it would be great."
Hoffort said that he and Dr. Tsoi are slated to meet with Sun Country's interim CEO Marga Cugnet and vice-president medicine Dr. Alain Lenferna in the near future to discuss the application more thoroughly.
"I believe the College of Medicine makes the call on whether they include us in the program or not. This is done with provincial funding, of course," said Hoffort.
"Personally I would like to see them arrive in the summer of 2013, the latest would be 2014. If we can find a way to make it possible in 2013, I'm sure we'd try for that."
The most recent addition to the local doctor pool is Dr. Jimi Akenset who received the majority of his medical training in the United Kingdom and has completed all the requirements under the provincial program that qualifies him to practise in Saskatchewan. Akenset, a family physician, has established his practice in the Estevan Medical Group clinic that is currently being served by Dr. Andre Grobler and Dr. Medhi Horri.
Hoffort said that two nurse practitioners, who had formerly served in the emergency room at St. Joe's during the physician shortage crisis, have now expanded their operations to include clinic hours with Dr. Tsoi and his team.
"We're thrilled that they'll be remaining in the city and can provide additional medical service for Estevan, Carlyle and other areas," he said.
Hoffort confirmed that ultrasound imaging services are being conducted in Estevan two days a week with about 20 to 30 images being taken each week since the service was restored a few months ago.
"Occasionally a person might have to be sent to Moose Jaw or Weyburn to have one taken, if it's an urgent or emergency basis, otherwise, they're done here," Hoffort said.
