Dr. Mark Joffe out as Alberta’s chief medical officer of health

Dr. Mark Joffe (Source: Alberta.ca)

Dr. Mark Joffe is no longer Alberta’s chief medical officer of health.

A statement from the province says Joffe’s contract ended on Monday and the search is now underway for a new chief medical officer of health.

Joffe was appointed by the current United Conservative Party government on Nov. 14, 2022.

According to a news release announcing his appointment, Joffe was to continue in the position “until the minister of health rescinds the appointment.”

His departure comes as Alberta has reported a total of 77 measles cases, only behind Ontario, which had reported 816 measles cases as of April 10.

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During question period at the Alberta Legislature on Tuesday, the NDP opposition accused the UCP government of muzzling Joffe’s office during the outbreak and preventing him from speaking publicly.

The premier replied that local authorities have been taking the lead as necessary.

“When we do have these localized outbreaks, it’s the local medical officer of health who ends up taking the lead on that,” Danielle Smith told the legislative assembly.

“We have had a number of cases that have come in from out of province. Some have been on the John D’Or reserve. Others have been in communities in northern Alberta, the local medical officer of health is the one who is taking the lead on making sure that there is information available that kids know and parents know where they can get vaccinated.”

Canadian researcher Lorian Hardcastle says Joffe’s departure leaves a lot of questions about who terminated his contract and why, especially in light of the measles situation.

“I think that it’s an unfortunate time for there to be a transition in this role, because I think that right now the public is looking to public health leaders for guidance on what to do with measles,” she said in an interview with CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday.

“Vaccination rates are lower than they should be to achieve herd immunity, and we could be looking at a public health emergency. And so it’s important to have a chief medical officer of health in place that the public trusts and that is taking an active role in managing that outbreak, not only from within government, but in a public facing manner.”

In a statement to CTV News Edmonton, the office of the Minister of Health said Tuesday it is “moving forward with the process to appoint a new interim CMOH as well as recruitment for a permanent CMOH and expect to have more to share in the near future.”

Hardcastle worries that continuous change in health leadership in the province in recent years could make it more difficult to attract qualified candidates for the position.

“We’ve had a couple of iterations of the AHS board. We’ve had two AHS CEOs. We’re now on our third chief medical officer of health, all in the past few years.”

“I think there is a concern that this government is one that tends to politicize public health and doesn’t always follow the evidence, and it isn’t clear that qualified individuals are going to be eager to serve as chief medical officer of health in that kind of environment.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti