How much should the City of Sault Ste. Marie do to address the family doctor shortage?
Down in Orillia, city council recently began the process to establish a city-run medical clinic, where family doctors would be paid as municipal employees, with their salaries reimbursed through OHIP.
Although the City of Orillia is still early in the process, the hope is to provide the administrative support required to ensure “the doctors are free to practise and do what they do best,” said Mayor Don McIsaac, who mentioned high student debt can impede would-be family physicians from opening up practices.
While health care is typically a provincial responsibility, McIsaac told OrilliaMatters in January that he hopes to see the city play a big role in connecting “every person in Orillia to a primary care provider in the next year.”
Like Orillia, Sault Ste. Marie has over 12,000 residents currently without a family physician – including 24 vacant physician positions, six of which are family doctors – according to the Ontario Medical Association.
When asked about the idea, however, city staff suggested a watch-and-wait approach with the snap provincial election looming on the horizon.
“Council would need to consider and pass a resolution on a project similar to Orillia,” said CAO Tom Vair.
“This concept would put the city in competition with other health-care organizations in Sault Ste. Marie, and there are a number of investments being promised by provincial parties in the run-up to the election to address the physician shortage.”
With 2.5 million Ontarians currently without a family doctor, each major party has made big promises to connect residents to primary care.
The Liberals have promised $3.1 billion in spending to bring in 3,100 family doctors by 2029, whereas the Conservatives have pitched $1.8 billion in spending to create 305 new “primary care teams.”
Rounding out the major parties, the NDP have proposed over $4 billion in spending to bring in 3,500 doctors by 2029.
“The city may be wise to see what programs become available before considering this alternative,” Vair said.
Although opening a city-run medical clinic remains a question mark locally, Vair said the city puts forward numerous efforts to recruit more family doctors, such as chairing the local physician recruitment committee, attending recruitment fairs, engaging medical school residents, supporting “familiarization visits” to Sault Ste. Marie, and more.