1700 residents still without a family doctor in Souris

By Charlotte MacAulay

All effort is being made to continue recruitment of doctors for the Souris area said Arlene Rose, Public Health Primary Care Coordinator(East) for the department of Health and Wellness.
In February Dr. Tamer Toma and Dr. Soha Rizk announced they were moving their practices to Nova Scotia leaving two doctors and one nurse practitioner to cover the community’s health care needs.
Dr Ambrose Kennedy was able to take on some of the patients left without a family doctor.
The rest have two options said Ms Rose.
“They have the opportunity to see the nurse practitioner or they can access the walk-in clinics,” she said.
So far they have been able to keep the clinic open everyday Monday-Friday and every second week-end.
Although the doctors hours haven’t been increased, they are on call for the inpatients at the hospital more often than before.
Some physicians have been inquiring about the recruitment and the department is working on getting someone to fill in on a temporary part-time bases, said Ms Rose.
“We do have one physician who has made a verbal agreement to sign on for a two-year term in the near future, but no contract has been signed as of yet,” she said.