Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Hay River (Sep 05/05) - Hay River residents are being asked to avoid seeing a doctor at the walk-in clinic except in urgent situations.

That's because for three weeks after Labour Day, the contingent of doctors at the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority will be down to three.

"It's not a critical situation, but it's one worth noting," said Paul Vieira, the authority's chief executive officer.

After three weeks, the number of doctors will return to three permanent and one locum. "Quite often we have four or five, with five being our preference," Vieira said.

Having the number of doctors fall to three means increased on-call load and fewer appointment blocks for the public to see a physician, he said.

Vieira said people should use some judgement in determining whether their medical situation is urgent.

Sometimes people show up at the walk-in clinic to have warts removed, or even to get advice on how to treat dandruff.

Vieira said people should still go to see a doctor in an emergency situation, such as chest pains. There is an emergency room at H.H. Williams Memorial Hospital.

Prescription renewal and regular check-ups can wait, he suggested.

"Those are things that don't need to be seen to today."