Nearly a dozen new doctors recruited to Fredericton

New doctors recruited to New Brunswick Eleven more doctors are putting down roots in New Brunswick’s capital before the end of the summer. CTV’s Laura Brown reports.

The people of Fredericton will be happy to hear that 11 new doctors will be putting down roots in the city before the end of the summer.

There are six new specialists, among them, a radiologist and a pathologist. Five new family doctors have also been recruited.

Dr. Katelyn Mathers, one of the new family physicians, is coming home after receiving her medical education in Ottawa.

“I think it’s a dream come true to be able to set up a family practice in my hometown,” says Dr. Mathers.

It’s a dream come true for her and quite possibly for some of the patients she may be able to treat. There have been many ups and downs for New Brunswick’s health authorities, trying for decades to keep up with the demand for family doctors. Historically, more downs than ups – until now.

“Well, I mean, I don’t smile often in this job, but I’m smiling about that,” says retired cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Tom Peters.

“Fredericton made it easy because we have such a need,” says Dr. Mathers. “I don’t even know how many people are on the list right now, but I know that I see multiple people a day who don’t have family doctors, so I’m looking forward to making a dent in that.”

In New Brunswick right now, the list of vacancies is still a long one; there are 31 openings for family doctors in the province, and 51 openings for specialists.

There are similar numbers in Nova Scotia as well, about 35 vacancies for family doctors, and 25 openings for a variety of specialists.

While the eleven doctors coming to Fredericton will make a dent in the list, Dr. Peters says you need two new doctors to replace one retiring physician.

“In other words, if we have a senior physician retiring now, generally they’re carrying a caseload that’s about twice of what is comfortable and workable for new physicians coming in,” says Dr. Peters. “Their caseload would be about half of that.”

The New Brunswick medical society says about 50,000 New Brunswickers do not have a family doctor. The Department of Health disputes that, saying there’s an average of about 17,000 people on the provincial wait list.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Brown