Hundreds of people seeking a family physician waited hours in line Saturday morning at a health clinic in Ottawa’s west end.
The Active Care clinic in Kanata put out a call for new patients and said it could register 400 to 600 people, with many assigned a physician assistant (PA), according to a medical secretary at the clinic.
“We’ve been without a family doctor about five years and it’s like a golden ticket people are walking out with today. So we’re lining up for one,” said Alison Boughey, who waited in line for almost four hours.
Boughey explained she was left without a primary care provider in Ottawa after her family doctor moved to Trenton, Ont., a few hours away.
It was a story that came up several times among others in line who’d struggled to find a family physician in the city.
Ontario has been experiencing a doctor shortage since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) told CBC in an email that more than 2.5 million Ontarians “currently do not have access to a family physician.”
The statement gave credit to recent investments in primary care as a good start to addressing the problem, but added that “the population’s health-care needs continue to exceed available resources.”
According to an OMA factsheet, it’s estimated that Ontario has 2.8 physicians for 1,000 people and that 40 per cent of them are considering retiring.
“I currently have a family doctor, but he is closing his practice. I think his letter said he can’t take it anymore,” said Rajual Chirammal in the dying hours of Saturday’s registration period.
“He’s closing the practice end of this month.”
Chirammal said he doesn’t know many people with a family doctor, as most of his friends rely on the Appletree Medical Centre for care.
He said he and his wife — who joined the line at 6 a.m., while he stayed home with their kids — couldn’t pass up Saturday’s opportunity.
Even so, Chirammal said they’ll still have to wait three weeks before the clinic confirms there’s a doctor or a physician assistant for them.
‘This is the way it is’
Boughey said she estimated 250 people were ahead of her when she arrived around 8 a.m.
She said the clinic’s voicemail indicated they were accepting new patients between 8 a.m. and noon Saturday, but she later found out some people were waiting as early as 4:30 a.m.
“I’m hoping that they’re still accepting patients by the time I get to my place at the door in line,” she said.
“I thought that coming to a big city, it would be easy to get another doctor,” added Marlene Vieira, another hopeful. “But I have not been able to even get on a wait list anywhere.”
Vieira said she moved to Ottawa from Haliburton Highlands, just north of Peterborough, Ont. She said she hasn’t seen much difference compared to the rural area.
“It’s been a wait,” Vieira said. “It would be nice not to have to, but this is the way it is.”
The secretary at the Active Care clinic, Belinda Manuel, said they currently have around eight physicians and three PAs.
PAs work alongside physicians to help reduce wait times and improve patient access to emergency medicine, according to the Ontario government.
They can conduct physicals, write referrals and prescribe certain medications but cannot prescribe narcotics, Manuel explained.
