Seguin Township and the Town of Parry Sound are joining a growing list of municipalities urging the province to recognize and address the physician shortage.
According to the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) University, communities in northern Ontario are short more than 350 physicians, including more than 200 family doctors. Half of the physicians working in the north are expected to retire in the next five years, too.
Seguin Mayor Ann MacDiarmid voiced support for a motion drafted by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, asking the province for help.
“One of the things they don’t want to see happening, which is already happening, is one town fighting against another town to get a doctor,” she said.
The motion and accompanying letter, passed by Seguin on July 15 and Parry Sound July 16, asks the province to fund health care appropriately to ensure every Ontario has access to physician care.
“Communities across Ontario have been facing critical health-care challenges, including long waitlists for primary care, shortages of doctors and other health care workers; and emergency room closures,” states the letter. “These cracks in Ontario’s health care system are impacting economic development, health and well-being at the local level.”
