More physicians needed in Lethbridge despite recent recruitment, health-care advocate says
![Physician measures blood pressure A physician measures blood pressure in this undated file image. (CTV News)](/content/dam/ctvnews/en/images/2024/7/18/physician-measures-blood-pressure-1-6969509-1721346768654.jpg)
Lethbridge has added nearly 30 doctors in the past year, but according to advocates, more are needed to address the backlog of patients.
Recent quarterly data from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta shows Lethbridge has 27 more doctors now than it did this time last year, bringing the total number of physicians in the city up to 306.
“What the clinics do is that they break it down. Give the new hire half of what someone else has. So if one person has two or three thousand people they break that down. They've still got too many people,” said Bev Muendel-Atherstone, president of the Lethbridge chapter of Friends of Medicare.
According to the Primary Care Network’s Find a Doctor Tool, there are no doctors currently accepting patients in Lethbridge.
That still leaves tens of thousands of Lethbridge residents without access to a family doctor.
“We don't know what the backlog is. All those figures have not been made public. So it would be good if we had a better breakdown of what is happening in our own city,” Muendel-Atherstone said.
Across the province, there are almost 500 more physicians compared to last year, including 31 in the south zone.
Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said the province is committed to recruiting more doctors to Alberta in a statement Thursday.
"This increase is incredibly positive, but we’re not stopping our efforts to attract more physicians,” LaGrange said in the statement.
“As part of the health workforce strategy, we are working to increase the number of spaces in our province’s medical schools, residency positions and training opportunities for international medical graduates.”
While more physicians coming to Lethbridge is good news there are still staffing issues in the city.
It was recently announced that the emergency department at Chinook Regional Hospital will experience reduced staffing in July and August due to physician shortages.
“We have to keep hiring more physicians. We're having problems right now with the ER in Lethbridge. We just heard that all during the summer there will be fewer physicians on duty so the ER is going to be even more blocked up than it has been,” said Muendel-Atherstone.
The City of Lethbridge is pleased to see more physicians are coming to Lethbridge. The city is working as well to help doctor recruitment.
“City council has been working hard to support physician recruitment while advocating with our partners to get more physicians working in our community,” the city said in a statement.
“Council’s recent decision to provide an additional $15,000 has made it possible to continue marketing and advertising efforts to recruit physicians to Lethbridge."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.5613282.1633537848!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
Guelph, Ont. man loses $28K to online cryptocurrency scam featuring video of Prime Minister
A Guelph, Ont. man says he has lost $28,500 after he fell for an online scam featuring a video of the Prime Minister.
Two more devasting fires in northwestern Ontario
A pair of fires last week have again rattled remote First Nation communities in northwestern Ontario.
Ed O'Neill found out 'Married… with Children' was cancelled in a very awkward way
Married... with Children may have been a show about love and marriage, but Ed O'Neill got no love from the network when it came to finding out how the show was taken off the air.
2 dead, 6 hospitalized after semi hits motorcyclists on Highway 2
Two people are dead, and six more and injured, following a crash involving several motorcycles and a semi that took place Saturday morning on Highway 2.
11 dead, 40 injured after truck plows into bar in Dominican Republic
A truck plowed into a bar in the Dominican Republic early Sunday killing at least 11 people and injuring more than 40, authorities said.
Buried beneath: Historic wooden sailboat re-emerges in N.S. as sand washes away
On the shores of the Avon River, 80 kilometres northwest of Halifax, Mother Nature has uncovered rich layers of 19th century maritime history.
Toronto police investigating fire at Hells Angels retail store
Police are investigating a fire at a Hells Angel retail store in east Toronto on Sunday.
Trump issues statement from Gold Star families defending Arlington Cemetery visit and ripping Harris
Donald Trump's campaign issued a statement Sunday from the Gold Star military families who invited him to Arlington National Cemetery as they defended the Republican presidential nominee and insisted that U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is the candidate politicizing fallen U.S. service members.
Germany is set to elect its first far-right party in state elections since the Nazi era
The far-right Alternative for Germany won a state election for the first time Sunday in the country’s east, and was set to finish at least a very close second to mainstream conservatives in a second vote, projections showed.