Hundreds of people stand in line at Kanata Health Clinic looking for a new doctor
Hundreds of people waited in line for hours at a health clinic in Ottawa’s west end Saturday morning looking for a family doctor.
Active Care Clinic in Kanata issued a call for new patients and said it could register 400 to 600 people, many of whom are assigned a physician assistant (PA), according to a medical secretary at the clinic.
“We’ve been without a family doctor for almost five years and this is like a golden ticket that people are going out with today. So we’re getting in line for one,” said Alison Baughey, who waited in line for about four hours.
Boghi said she was left without a primary care provider in Ottawa after her family doctor moved to Trenton, Ontario, just a few hours away.
It was a story that came up many times among others struggling to find a family doctor in the city.
Ontario is facing a shortage of doctors following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) told CBC in an email that even more 2.5 million Ontarians “do not currently have access to a family physician.”
The statement credited recent investment in primary care as a good start to addressing the problem, but also said that “The health care needs of the population continue to exceed available resources.”
according to An OMA FactsheetIt is estimated that there are 2.8 physicians per 1,000 people in Ontario and 40 per cent of them are considering retirement.
“I currently have a family doctor, but he is closing his practice. I think his letter said he can no longer take it,” said Rajual Chirammal in the final hours of Saturday’s registration period.
“He’s closing practice at the end of this month.”
Chirammal said he doesn’t know many people who have a family doctor, because most of his friends rely on Appletree Medical Center for care.
He said he and his wife – who joined the line at 6 a.m. while he was at home with their children – couldn’t pass up Saturday’s opportunity.
Still, Chirammal said she still has to wait three weeks before the clinic can confirm a doctor or a physician assistant for her.
‘It’s like that’
Baughey said she estimated 250 people were ahead of her when she arrived around 8 a.m.
She said the clinic’s voicemails indicated they were accepting new patients between 8 a.m. and noon Saturday, but she later learned some people had been waiting as early as 4:30 a.m.
“I’m hoping that by the time I get to my place at the door in line they will be accepting patients,” she said.
“I thought that coming to a bigger city, it would be easier to get another doctor,” said Marlene Vieira, another hopeful. “But I couldn’t get on the waiting list anywhere.”
Vieira said she moved to Ottawa from Haliburton Highlands, just north of Peterborough, Ontario. He said he hasn’t seen much difference compared to rural areas.
“IIt was a lot of waiting,” Vieira said. “It would be nice not to have to do that, but it is the way it is.”
Belinda Manuel, secretary of Active Care Clinic, said they currently have about eight physicians and three PAs.
According to the , PAs work with physicians to help reduce wait times and improve patient access to emergency medicine. Ontario Government,
They can perform physical examinations, write referrals and prescribe some medications, but cannot prescribe narcotics, Manuel explained.
