EDITOR:
In response to Darragh Mogan’s letter to the editor on Oct. 24, “Medical School Mistake,” some of his assertions overlook the realities Islanders face when attempting to secure medical service.
Yes, health care is expensive, and failing to receive it is even more costly in terms of suffering, delayed diagnosis and treatment, loss of income and loss of productivity to the provincial economy. Although migration of physicians in and out of a jurisdiction occurs, and is healthy for knowledge exchange, surveys show that the majority of medical graduates choose to practice in the area of their studies: 69 per cent at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and 76 per cent at the University of Manitoba.
With 15,000 Islanders having no family physician, hospitals and clinics under threat of service interruption or closure, and 56 per cent of Island physicians planning to leave the province, decrease their practice or retire within the coming five years, it is time for Prince Edward Island to join all other provinces and graduate physicians.
Meanwhile, the current physician shortage crisis must be addressed with an accelerated recruitment program as well as an increase in residency positions for the intermediate term, but the ongoing issue is best served with the medical faculty. Collaborative models are a developing and important part of our health-care system. All health-care professionals and personnel are essential to the health of our growing and ageing population. Determinants of health, such as poverty and employment access, must be addressed through public policy to improve the overall well-being of our society, and not thrown out as a smokescreen to delay and deny specific health care needs of Islanders, as has happened over the past two decades.
Support is coalescing for a medical faculty at UPEI from urban and rural municipalities, political representatives and most importantly Islanders seeking the opportunity to receive a medical education in our province, and to contribute to the health all our residents and communities.
Sharon Dunn,
O’Leary
