Opinion: Next Sask. government must set targets for family doctors – The Star Phoenix
Oct 23, 2024
The Saskatchewan Medical Association urges the province’s next government to address the shortage of family doctors and the reality of rural attrition.
A family physician shortage has been simmering across Canada for years, and Saskatchewan has been particularly hard hit.
About 200,000 people in the province — or one in six — don’t have a family physician. This shortage will only get worse as more family physicians retire and fewer medical graduates enter family medicine.
To address these challenges, work is already underway to change the culture of family medicine in Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) expects the next provincial government to continue along this path so that everyone who wants an ongoing relationship with a family physician has one.
