By Derek Cornet

Petition demands more doctors in La Ronge

May 11, 2018 | 5:00 PM

A petition asking for more physicians in La Ronge was launched Thursday.

Rhonda Oliver began the petition as a concerned citizen, and has sign-up sheets available at the La Ronge Medical Clinic. Oliver, who manages the clinic, wrote in the petition that increased health services are needed for residents of La Ronge, Air Ronge, the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, and other northern communities.

Oliver declined to be interviewed.

Dr. Sean Groves, who works at the clinic, said things have been tough for the last eight years operating with the 11 full-time physicians currently on staff, but the last two months have been particularly difficult.

“We recognize we’re short on being able to provide all of the clinic services we should be providing,” he said. “This year we had a little bit of a drop in our physician numbers with a few doctors away on maternity leave and a few doctors leaving the community or changing their work hours.”

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The last time La Ronge saw an increase in the number of local doctors was 14 years ago, Groves said, but he noted the population has gone up by close to 15 per cent over that period. He also said the clinic serves residents from as far north as Wollaston Lake, and the longstanding shortage of physicians has become much more severe in recent months. Groves said Northern Medical Services (NMS) and the provincial government have been in contact about the issue and there have been some results.

“The new Saskatchewan Health Authority has been positive with their involvement with us, and they’ve been working to try and provide some stop-gap measures in our emergency department,” he said.

According to an email from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health, officials weren’t aware of the petition but they did receive a request from doctors in La Ronge to support additional physicians for current and anticipated clinical demands. The Ministry said NMS and the Saskatchewan Health Authority are also reviewing the request.

Residents of the tri-communities seem to want more doctors hired in La Ronge. A poll on the La Ronge Medical Clinic’s Facebook page showed 99 per cent of more than 600 respondents were in favour.

derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno