A new family doctor will be coming to Belleville this fall, under the city’s doctor recruitment program.
The city has attracted almost 30 new doctors under the program in the last few years and the majority have been family physicians.
Manager of Economic and Strategic Initiatives Karen Poste tells Quinte News on Tuesday it’s a challenge to tell how many people still need doctors, since many people don’t register with the provincial government’s Health Care Connect.
Poste says the city does know there are a number of doctors getting ready to retire.
She says, “It’s up to the physician to have opportunity to take on orphan patients (from retiring doctors) in the community or new patients.
They can develop a practice that works best for them. Some new doctors react through Health Care Connect and some have the opportunity to take on patients from a retiring doctor, therefore not take any people from Health Care Connect. It’s up to the doctors.”
The latest doctor recruit, Dr. David Ademidun will come to Belleville in September of this year.
The city has a policy of two new recruit a year.
It gives the doctors $150,000 each, which it takes from the money it receives as part owner of Elexicon Energy, formerly Veridian Connections.
