SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. - A Summerside councillor is questioning the city’s attempts to attract new physicians to the area.
Coun. Greg Campbell said he was surprised to learn some of the city’s economic staff attended the Family Medicine Forum in Toronto with local doctors in November.
Staff attended the forum with local doctors from Nov. 14 to 17 in an effort to recruit new physicians to the area.
Campbell said the city has enough files to spend money on without duplicating work being done by the provincial government.
“There was nothing positive come out of that trip,” said Campbell who learned of the excursion during the first meeting of the new Summerside council last month.
Coun. Brian McFeely, the new chair of the economic development committee, said doctor recruitment should be a team effort and that money was allocated for the trip in last year’s budget.
“The proof will be in the pudding down the road,” he said.
McFeely said health care is one of the big questions people and businesses have when they consider moving to Summerside.
“It’s an easier sell when you’re trying to entice a new business here when they’re concerned about health care,” he said. “I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive. They’re intertwined more than we think they are.”
Campbell said that was a “pretty weak argument.”
“I don’t see the relationship between the two,” said Campbell.
Provincial recruitment manager Rebecca Gill welcomed the collaboration and said the province briefed the delegation prior to the forum.
“As much as it’s about the job, it’s about where (doctors are) going to live and the type of community they’re going to be part of,” said Gill.
The province will tour prospective doctors around to various practices so they can get a feel for communities, said Gill.
“We’re really happy to be working with communities and have those partnerships established,” she said. “We’re happy to see Summerside doing their work and we’re really excited about it because we all have a role to play in physician recruitment and retention.”
@AlisonEBC
