More doctors at work in Sun Country

The Sun Country Health Region is celebrating the fruits of its labour.

In a recent press release Sun Country announced that 15 new doctors who have arrived in the region since January of 2013.

The release added the residents of Estevan, Kipling, Carlyle, Redvers, Arcola, Oxbow and Weyburn have all benefited from the recruitment efforts of their local communities, saskdocs and Sun Country. All of those groups have worked in partnership over the past two years to recruit these doctors.

"As a result of this successful work, more residents will be able to connect regularly to a family doctor rather than visiting the Region's emergency rooms or travel out of the Region for their health care needs," says Marga Cugnet, CEO, Sun Country Health Region.

Locally, Estevan currently has 11 doctors practicing in the city and at least one doctor who will be entering the Saskatchewan International Physician Practice Assessment.

St. Joseph's Hospital executive director Greg Hoffort said they are comfortable with those numbers but will continue to work to add more physicians to the local roster.

"Our (plan) is to steadily increase the number of doctors rather than bring four in at once, which has its challenges," Hoffort said.

"If we could consistently bring in one or two a year, we would be pleased with that."

Along with working on the number of doctors, Hoffort said they are also continuing to work on the creation of a two-year medical residency program at St. Joe's. He said they are hopeful of getting the program up and running within the next two years and feels it would be of great benefit to the hospital.

"We don't have anything official, but it is certainly something that remains in our sights as a vital element to long-term physician stability."

In the meantime, the local hospital is hosting a number of doctors as they complete their two-month rural rotation. The first person in the program is currently working at St. Joe's and two others will also complete two-month stints in Estevan in the following months.

"That helps the numbers equation a little bit," Hoffort said. "These are trained physicians just completing their residency so they are one step away from being licensed family physicians."