The departure of several doctors from a Coquitlam medical clinic will leave hundreds, if not thousands, of residents without a doctor and add to an already lengthy wait list for a family physician.
Gain Medical Centre has announced via its website that one doctor is moving to another clinic on Aug. 3 and another four MDs are retiring Aug. 31.
Dr. Shilpa Dabholkar is moving to Elgin Medical Clinic, while Drs. Marvin Huberman, Donald Eddy, Daniel Shu and John van Buuren are retiring.
However, the clinic still has two rheumatologists, Drs. Kiran Manhas and Genevieve Law, working at the Austin Avenue health centre.
The Tri-City News has reached out to Gain to find out the status of the clinic and we've yet to hear back as of this publication (July 11).
But on the website, Gain states that the retiring physicians are unable to find replacement doctors.
Losing so many physicians will likely add to a 325-day wait list on the Fraser Northwest Health Connect Registry page.
However, a spokesperson for the Fraser Northwest Health Division of Family practice is referring patients to the province's new Health Connect Registry within their respective regions in order to join the waitlist for a new family doctor.
"Patients can also call 8-1-1 to self-register over the phone. Registering using this online tool adds you to our local wait list for a provider," a spokesperson for Fraser Northwest stated in an email.
The B.C. government's new Health Connect Registry, which launched July 1, aims to make it easier for. patients to get a family doctor or nurse practitioner in their community by signing up for a primary-care provider.
During an announcement July 5, Health Minister Adrian Dix said he's not making promises about the numbers of people who will find doctors, but progress will be measured and regular public updates will be provided starting this fall.
"This gives patients a place to go when they need a family doctor," he said.
"It allows us to understand, not just in survey terms, the challenge, but also to assist people and families in their desire to get a family doctor."
The number of people without a family doctor in B.C. has declined to about 895,000 from 980,000 in 2021, but the number is still too high, said Dix.
"I don't make predictions," he said. "I'm hopeful that we make progress."
Dix said the registry gives the B.C. government a list of people looking for family doctors, people who have family physicians, as well as providers and clinics accepting new patients.
In addition, there are several other resources available to assist Tri-Cities patients in finding medical care, including:
- with files from The Canadian Press
