More doctors needed

For all my life, I have had a family doctor. While this does not seem like a huge deal to many, for others, it is a luxury that literally cannot even be purchased. Whether you have migrated to P.E.I. from away, or just relocated from one area to another, in order to become a patient of a family doctor, you will have to join the seemingly “forever elongating” registry list of around twelve thousand people.

The provincial government needs to take an initiative to bring many more family physicians to the Island. In order for the registry to dwindle down, we need far more than we currently have, and at the slow rate that they are coming in, it does not seem to be anytime soon that we will be seeing this happen. In order to attract more family doctors here at a quicker rate, we must first consider all factors that would entice them to live here.

Financial compensation, climate, lifestyle; these are all things that people consider when moving. Seeing as financial compensation is the only variable that can directly be changed by the government, it can be safely inferred that a large signing bonus or increased salary is the most efficient way that the government can attract new family doctors.

I know for a fact that if I were looking at potential places to live, I would instantly eliminate a location that has a waitlist of twelve thousand people for a family doctor, despite the amount of beautiful beaches and rolling hills it might have. If we plan on attracting more potential immigrants to the Island, which could potentially increase our economical growth and potential as a province, we need to eliminate the bottleneck that is the shortage of family doctors.

Griffen Wakelin (UPEI student), Charlottetown

If we plan on attracting more potential immigrants to the Island, which could potentially increase our economical growth and potential as a province, we need to eliminate the bottleneck that is the shortage of family doctors.