For the past month, only two doctors and a nurse practitioner have been serving 5,000 people in the northwest corner of the health region, staffing clinics in St. Walburg, Turtleford and Edam.
One doctor left at Christmas and another recently went to pursue further education, leaving the clinics half-staffed - and they'll probably stay that way even into the summer months, when an estimated 2,000 people will flock to area lakes, increasing the demand for local doctors.
"It's hard to get residential doctors to come to rural Saskatchewan," said Red Pearce, chairperson of North Saskatchewan River Municipal Health Holdings.
Prairie North Health Region is providing an additional nurse practioner in Edam twice a week until a mid-April, and a locum doctor will serve St. Walburg and Turtleford next week, but it's likely there will be only two full-time doctors in the area until at least mid-July.
North Saskatchewan River Municipal Health Holdings is recruiting two international physicians who have completed the Medical Council of Canada Evaluating Exam, the first step for doctors from other countries who want to work in Canada. In mid-May, the doctors will begin the next step in the assessment process, which can last up to three months.
If all goes well, the new doctors could arrive late this summer.
"That's all we can do, keep our fingers crossed that everything turns out OK," said Pearce.
The need for doctors is a constant issue across Prairie North Health Region, said CEO David Fan.
The health region is currently recruiting at least 10 physicians, mostly for rural positions.
"Physician recruitment and retention is an ongoing challenge. That's been the situation for many years," he said.
"We're competing with just about every other health region in the province as well as Canada and the world."
