The efforts to replace Estevan lone's OBGYN are proving successful.
St. Joseph's Hospital executive director Greg Hoffort said Dr. Idris Yekinni was recently in Estevan for a site visit and before departing the Energy City he signed a memorandum of intent to set up a practice in Estevan.
Hoffort said Yekinni must still go through the immigration process before coming to Canada. If there are no hiccups in that process, Yekinni is expected to be in the city by mid to late January.
"We are working with him to get everything in order before he applies and we are pretty optimistic that he will be here in January," Hoffort said.
Yekinni will potentially fill a major void in the local medical community as the area is currently without an OBGYN after Dr. Yusef Kasim decided to close his practice. In an interview with The Mercury Kasim said a lack of patients was behind his decision to leave Estevan.
The news of his decision sent Hoffort on a global search to find a replacement and he is relieved to have Yekinni possibly on his way to Estevan.
"It was a tremendous loss when we learned that we were losing Dr. Kasim," Hoffort said. "There are other physicians in town who deliver babies but when it comes to first time (deliveries) or at risk deliveries you need that back up for the potential of a C-section or other complications. To have that in Estevan eliminates the transfers and the need for folks to go to Regina."
Hoffort said after going through the predicament of losing Kasim, he and others in the health-care community have learned from that experience and will put that knowledge towards Yekinni and his practice.
"One of Dr. Kasim's issues was that he didn't have an anesthetist here for the first few months and that hurdle has been crossed so he'll start with that in place," Hoffort said. "We think we can do a better job comfortable with the other area physicians to draw referrals. We are set up to do his surgeries in the OR as soon as he comes. We are also working with the region so that he can do a surgical slate in Weyburn which will help his practice become more viable.
"He is going to establish his practice in the Nicholson clinic with the other three doctors and a view to another one shortly thereafter. Just the traffic that will be in that office and the collegial relationship with the other physicians there are going to help him rather than having a solo, stand alone practice."
Hoffort added that Yekinni is currently practising in Ireland and will not have to go through the qualifying process with the College of Medicine, meaning once he arrives in the country, he'll be able to get to work.
"When he did the site visit, he had great meetings with a lot of the staff. He spent some time in OBS with their staff and in the OR with our staff there and really seemed to hit it off well and we think he's going to be a great addition."
Along with tracking down a new OBGYN, Hoffort said they have also been working to add more physicians to the local roster. He noted there are currently eight working in Estevan and Yekinni would be the ninth.
However, they also have another doctor making his way through the Saskatchewan assessment process with an eye towards opening a practice in January. Hoffort said an added bonus to this physician is that his wife is a general practitioner and also plans to enter the assessment process. They also have another physician signed up to enter the assessment process in January.
"Those are not done deals by any means; they have to successfully complete that," Hoffort said. "We have had one fellow in the process who didn't make it. The one looks fairly certain now that he will be here in January so there is a view to 12 physicians in 2013."
Aside from working to add more doctors to the community, Hoffort said another key focus is the acquisition of a CT Scan for the hospital. He noted that a CT unit would not only be a huge step forward in the delivery of health care in southeast Saskatchewan, it would also help with the continuous recruitment of doctors.
"From a patient care perspective, when you look at things like diagnosis and stroke protocol, those are critical things and the reason we need a CT scan. From a recruitment perspective, if we are competing against someone who has the diagnostic tools that we are lacking it is very important and we won't rest that's for certain until we have one."
Hoffort said the local group has made contact with Health Minister Dustin Duncan and he has assured them that he will make time for a meeting with them.
"We will do the best we can to give him a case that he can't say no to."
