Retired doctors can return to work with COVID-19 measure
SASKATOON Recently retired doctors in Saskatchewan will have an expedited path to return to work as part of a public response against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons, the province’s regulatory body, invoked emergency measures on Monday to speed the re-licensing of any physician who was licensed to practise medicine in Saskatchewan within the past three years.
“This has been done to ensure there are no barriers to physicians who come forward to assist the health care system in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic,” a statement from the college reads.
The emergency measures triggered by registrar Dr. Karen Shaw were introduced after the SARS epidemic in the early 2000s and have never been used until now.
They are meant to allow the college to suspend parts of its regulations to license more physicians in case “there are insufficient physicians to provide necessary care to individuals in Saskatchewan affected by the emergency.”
Bryan Salte, the college’s associate registrar, said those physicians would be able to return to work in normal circumstances as well, but that the measures will make the process faster and waive any fees they would normally incur. He said the majority of applicants will likely be recently retired doctors or those who left the profession for personal reasons.
“The reason why they (the physician) left is not so important,” Salte said. “We did this to see if there is a potential reserve of physicians out there who might be able to return.”
Dr. Susan Shaw, the chief medical officer with the Saskatchewan Health Authority, says a large number of former physicians, nurses and health care staff have stepped forward in recent days asking to help — something she called “a good news story.”
She says conversations about how to incorporate all of those volunteers are ongoing.
Salte said the exemptions will not apply to physicians who have lost their licence or faced similar disciplinary penalties. However, he said it is possible that restrictions could be further loosened if the situation calls for it. The emergency licences are valid for a two-month period, which Salte indicated could be renewed based on need, and will become invalid once the emergency measures end.
“We don’t want to open the floodgates too widely and forego our usual steps for licensing,” he said.
It’s not known at this time how many more physicians are needed or how many will volunteer, Salte said. As of Tuesday afternoon there were eight recorded cases of COVID -19 in Saskatchewan — two confirmed and six presumptive — although federal public health officials have speculated that between 30 and 70 per cent of the population could be affected at some point in the coming months.
“At the moment, our information is that this is not a critical need, but everything is evolving so fast here that we decided we would rather be ahead of the curve than behind the curve,” Salte said.
As of Tuesday morning, he said two doctors had indicated they wanted to return to work. The college plans to reach out to others in the coming week who may be eligible.