Achi news desk-
LETHBRIDGE, ALTA –
Lethbridge has added 28 doctors over the past year, according to a quarterly report published by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta.
That pushes the total number of doctors to 303 for the city of nearly 108,000.
The 28 new doctors is an increase of just over 10 per cent since the previous year. However, a backlog of patients prevents doctors from accepting new patients.
“Right now doctors are all overloaded with 2000 or more patients, but the average doctor should have about 1,000,” said Bev Muendel-Atherstone, president of the Lethbridge chapter for Friends of Medicare.
“So if a new GP comes into a clinic then they would take half the caseload of another doctor.”
According to AlbertaFindADoctor.ca, there are no family doctors in Lethbridge currently accepting patients.
That leaves tens of thousands of people without a doctor.
“We have about half of Lethbridge suffering without doctors. And of course that means people are going to the ER when you would normally go to your doctor,” Muendel-Atherstone said.
Adding more doctors is good news but Alberta Health Services (AHS) is working to recruit even more.
AHS has developed an international sponsorship program, recruiting Canadian and internationally trained physicians and incentivizing full-time positions.
“AHS appreciates the work our physicians and healthcare teams do every day in communities across Alberta. We remain committed to supporting recruitment and retention efforts to ensure we are there to” n patients and our families when they need us most,” AHS said in a statement.
The City of Lethbridge has also been working to attract doctors to the city.
In the spring of 2022 the city council adopted new policies to attract doctors to Lethbridge.
“The City of Lethbridge continues to support efforts by our partners at Alberta Health Services to attract and retain medical professionals for the community,” the city said in a statement.
“As the municipal government, we do not have jurisdiction over health care, but we understand that a healthy and prosperous community must include a strong base of family doctors.”
It seems more doctors are on the way to Lethbridge.
A new medical training program at the University of Lethbridge is about to begin accepting students for the 2025-26 school year.
Each GP in the teaching clinic could look after up to 1,200 patients a year.
