City of Williams Lake Council has requested a meeting with the Minister of Health during the Union of British Columbia Municipalities AGM and Convention in Early September.
They asked for the meeting to bring attention to the critical shortage of health care professionals in the community.
Mayor Walt Cobb said it’s been ongoing for years getting new Drs, Locums, some that come for a couple of years and then they’re gone.
“And that seems to be the scenario we’re in right now is that once the two-years are up that they have to spend in a rural community or whatever their rationale is for coming here and then they go, it’s a cycle and there are not enough Doctors. We’ve got to have Doctors, we’ve got to have physicians and we’ve got to find out a way that’s going to work for everybody.”
Cobb said although a number of new physicians have come to Williams Lake in recent months, it’s simply not enough to keep up with the demand.
“My Doctor he’s been here for a long, long, long, time since our kids were little and he’s ready to retire, and Doctor Neufeld just moved away so we have to have replacements for those.”
Cobb said we want to add Williams Lake’s voice to the calls from around the province that emphasize that the efforts of Interior Health and the provincial government are simply not getting us where we need to be.
In addition to trying to get a meeting with the Minister of Health in the fall, plans are also underway to meet with Interior Health.
Something going on in the Cariboo you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
