Health board struggles with rural medicine issue
Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services
Inuvik (Mar 02/01) - Getting doctors and nurses to work in Inuvik are two different problems.
Two doctors recently left for personal reasons after being in the area for some time.
"We're having difficulty finding permanent physicians to replace them," said Deborah Mcleod, director of communications and planning for the Inuvik Health and Social Services Board. "Every rural region is having difficulty attracting doctors."
She said the cause is different than difficulties they have attracting and keeping nurses here. There is a worldwide shortage of nurses, Mcleod explained, whereas the problem with doctors is many prefer to work in large centres.
The topic was discussed last week during a meeting of the health board, but Mcleod said there's no easy answer.
"It's a very difficult problem to address because it has a lot to do with things that are out of our control."
One doctor who's been at the Inuvik Regional Hospital for nearly 11 years says the pressures which come with rural medicine is a big factor in scaring away potential candidates.
Dr. Braam de Klerk said in a place like Inuvik, doctors are a long way from backup from specialists.
"You do have more responsibility because if somebody comes in really ill, you have to keep them alive until you can medevac them out," de Klerk said.
"It's not as easy as in a big city, where if somebody's sick you just send them off to the specialist by ambulance," he said.
"We get faced with a wide variety of illnesses, so it can be scary, especially for young doctors."
De Klerk said he's learned to deal with the responsibility, and that he likes the variety of the work.
He is a general practitioner, and does anaesthesia and surgery.
He's also delivered about 600 babies over the past decade.
De Klerk said the hospital is a pleasant place to work.
"The whole staff at the hospital works pretty well together," he said. "We have equipment that, it might not be new, but it's functional."
Rural students needed
In terms of rural areas across the country attracting more doctors, de Klerk said universities must start attracting more students from rural areas. He said it's been shown that such students are much more likely to practice in rural areas.
De Klerk said that students should have to do electives in rural areas, so as to get a taste of what it's like.
In terms of attracting more doctors to Inuvik, de Klerk said recruiters must find people interested in the North.
"You can't solve the problem by paying more money, because you need a certain kind of person to come here," de Klerk said.
"Money might be part of the answer, but it's not the whole answer."
