10 per cent of Nova Scotians still in need of a family doctor

While around 9,000 less Nova Scotians are in need of a family doctor, around 10.4 per cent of the province's population are still on the province’s wait list for a full-time family doctor.

Jim Deleskie is one of many still on the waiting list, and he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis not long ago.

"I have to go for like six MRIs a year,” the Sydney native said.

Though Deleskie does have a doctor in Florida, where he commutes back-and-forth for work, he said when he is home in Nova Scotia not having a family physician can make it difficult when his condition causes him problems.

"I don't have a way to tell if it's minor or not, because I don't have a doctor I can talk to when I'm in Canada,” Deleskie said. "I would have to reach out to my doctor here in Miami and say 'Hey, this is going on. Is it something I should be concerned about?'"

"I can also tell you that a lot of doctors who are practicing in Nova Scotia are approaching retirement age,” said Dr. Margaret Fraser, a family and emergency room physician in Sydney. "So we may see that number tick up again, unfortunately."

Fraser, who has more than 1,300 patients and is fully booked, said she hopes some of those retirements can be held-off until some of the measures that have been put in place by the province to try to recruit new doctors can come into effect.

One of those measures is the new medical school at Cape Breton University that is expected to open in the fall.

"That won't make any impact on the number of family physicians practicing in Nova Scotia until six years after it opens, but at that point we should start to see a steady stream of new graduates coming out,” Fraser said.

The head of Doctors Nova Scotia said they too see the possible setback regarding retirements and are encouraging some of those doctors to keep working until new ones can be hired.

"We know that roughly 21 per cent of the current practicing physicians are over the age of 60,” said Dr. Gehad Gobran, president of Doctors Nova Scotia.

In the meantime, he's hoping even fewer people will be without a family doctor when the next registry update is released.

"Another 9,000 in the coming six months,” Gobran said when asked for a number the organization might like to see.

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