The Sun Country Health Region and the local recruitment team are working to attract more doctors to Estevan, to mitigate the impending departure of two physicians.
Two long time residents of Estevan, Dr. Vino Padayachee and Dr. Diana Naidu, will close their clinic at the end of September when they move out of the community. They are away during the month of August.
Dr. Padayachee has accepted the position as the next chief executive officer of the Saskatchewan Medical Association.
In the meantime, obstetrical and elective surgeries at St. Joseph's Hospital will be reduced.
All high risk obstetrics will be referred to Regina. Expectant mothers should speak with their physician to prepare a flexible birthing plan. Elective surgeries will be limited by the availability of anesthetics.
"Hiring new physicians is a priority. We are hopeful our recruitment efforts will be productive, and that the situation will be remedied by the end of the year," said Norman Poirier, Executive Director of St. Joseph's Hospital in Estevan.
"SCHR recruitment team and the local Estevan recruitment team have a strong partnership and processes to ensure timely responses for interested physicians, including links to the Physicians Recruitment Agency of Saskatchewan (SaskDocs) and the other partner government agencies like the Ministry of Health, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan and Immigration Canada."
Dr. Alain Lenferna, SCHR Vice President, Medical says the Region's recruitment division anticipated that three new physicians would be available for Estevan this fall. There have been delays in the immigration process
"We have a physician on a temporary appointment who will arrive in September. We may have one other physician arrive this fall, and we are also working with several other interested physicians, which is very encouraging," says Lenferna.
Marga Cugnet, Interim CEO of Sun Country Health Region, says the process for placing foreign-born physicians, including immigration and provincial assessment, can take many months.
