(June 22, 2022) – Loyola O’Driscoll, PC Official Opposition MHA for Ferryland, is raising concerns with the Liberal government’s recruitment and retention efforts for rural physicians. O’Driscoll says the Furey Government seems to be going out of its way to make it difficult for the town of Trepassey to secure a desperately needed physician.

“The province needs to be creative in attracting and retaining physicians in our rural communities, and the efforts by this Liberal government frankly haven’t been good enough. There are physicians ready and willing to practice in rural areas like Trepassey in my district but they are receiving the run around from the Furey Liberal government,” said O’Driscoll.

“The necessary incentives to attract family physicians to rural areas are simply not adequate. It’s no wonder rural parts of our province are seeing more doctor’s leave than are recruited if necessary incentives are not good enough or not being offered at all.”
Inequitable accommodations between physicians that want to practice in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, and their counterparts in other health professions, are hindering the recruitment and retention process.

“We need as many healthcare professionals as we can get and this Liberal government should be bending over backwards to provide the necessary accommodations for these highly trained individuals. Instead, the Furey Liberal government is demonstrating its blatant disrespect for all medical professionals by forcing them into arrangements that don’t make sense,” said O’Driscoll.

“The Furey Liberal government has re-implemented forced resettlement – just by another name. If the Premier’s goal is to drive physicians away from rural communities, he’s doing a damn fine job of it.”

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Contacts:

David Maher

Director of Strategic Communications

(cell) 709-725-0984

DavidMaher@gov.nl.ca