Giving $10,000 to doctors to set up shop in Alberta’s rural areas probably won’t help the doctor shortage, says Trochu doctor David O’Neil.
“We shouldn’t delude ourselves into thinking this is a solution,” said O’Neil, who heads the Alberta Medical Association’s rural doctors wing.
The provincial government announced doctors will be given $10,000 if they move to a rural area, and health districts might offer to pay off student loans, pay clinic expenses for a few months, provide housing subsidies and help with moving expenses.
To keep the $10,000, the doctor will have to stay in the rural area for at least one year. O’Neil said that is not nearly sufficient to maintain rural health services.
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He called the money a “Band-aid” that might be necessary to help fend off American health recruiters, but does nothing to alleviate the underlying long-term problem.
And he said many doctors are cynical about the announcement, since it was made with some fanfare but actually contains no new money.
Money for each doctor
All the money, which could amount to about $75,000 for each doctor who agrees to set up a practice in rural Alberta, was contained in a February 1996 announcement of $1.1 million to improve working conditions for rural doctors.
“If the government is doing tricks like this, you wonder if they are really sincere about doing something about these problems, or are they just going to jerk around with us?”
O’Neil said rural doctors are coming up with a series of proposals for what they hope will be long-term solutions to keep them in rural communities.
