South Bruce Peninsula council is urging the province to reconsider the criteria it uses to determine which areas are most in need of new doctors.
Council has agreed to send a letter to the Ministry of Health as it is no longer considered an area of high physician need, urging the province to look at the unique circumstances in the community.
Councillor Matt Jackson sits on the physician recruitment committee and says they have doctors with large patient loads who are looking to retire, but replacing them will be difficult because the province insists on a "one doctor out, one doctor in" policy for those who are not in a high need area.
"If a current doctor retires, you get one doctor [in] for one doctor [out], whereas if you're designated a high needs area, there's a bit more flexibility and often more accommodation to replace that doctor with more than one," says Jackson.
With a poverty rate higher than the provincial average, Jackson says South Bruce Peninsula has health care challenges that the province needs to recognize.
"We have a very diverse population, we have a high number of senior citizens that require a significant amount of health care. We border two First Nations reserves that have very unique health care concerns and needs that all require additional resources to meet," says Jackson.
