Holyrood is the latest place in Newfoundland and
Labrador to go through what is, in many parts of the province, a regular event.
One of two family doctors in the community is leaving
practice and so people are left without a family for a period
of time.
According to Corporate
Research Associates,
about 10% of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians did not have a family
doctor in 2017. That's about 52,500 people and typical of the situation across Atlantic
Canada.
People wind up without a family doctor for two
reasons, basically. Some people never
have a family doctor. Typically, that’s
by choice but people in remote communities may go their entire lives without a
family doctor regardless of whether they want one or not.
The other folks without a family doctor find themselves
in this situation because of something the family doctor decided. The doctor may retire or just close the
practice (to move somewhere else) leaving people without a doctor for a few
months or for however long it takes to find a new doctor.
How many doctors are there?
One of the problems the public has in trying to figure
out if there is a serious problem in health care these days is that we do not
know how many doctors are actually practicing medicine.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Newfoundland
and Labrador issues licences to doctors annually. About five years ago, the
College changed the way it publicly reports its licensing statistics.
