A mother in Cape Breton is angry because she was forced to drive for five hours after a piece of metal became lodged in her young daughter’s eye because there was no doctor available on the island to put the girl under for the operation.

Emma Hawley says she first drove to the hospital in Baddeck, N.S., where it was determined that Lillian, 4, needed a type of emergency surgery that wasn’t available at the small hospital. The staff planned to send her to Cape Breton Regional Hospital in Sydney, but were told no anesthetist was available.

Both of the anesthetists who serve the hospital insisted they weren’t on call, “and neither one of them would come in regardless,” according to Hawley. The province says there was an anesthetist scheduled on call so it’s entirely not clear what happened.

Greg Boone, a spokesperson with Nova Scotia Health Authority, said that such cases would normally be transferred to New Glasgow or Antigonish, which are respectively about 200 and 250 kilometres away from the Hawleys’ home in Sydney Mines. Halifax, where they were eventually sent, is about twice as far.

“It wasn’t a short drive,” Hawley said.

“It’s ridiculous really,” she added. “It’s my four-year-old daughter. She can’t wait.”

Nova Scotia PC MLA Alfie MacLeod agreed.

“If it was your little girl, would it be acceptable?” he told CTV Atlantic. “It certainly isn’t in my mind to come all the way to Halifax, a four-and-a-half or five-hour drive, for a five-minute procedure.”

Nova Scotia has experienced a medical staff shortage in recent years. In August, the shortage was so severe that at least nine out of 38 hospitals experienced temporary emergency room closures.

Province to add nine new positions

On Wednesday, the province’s Liberal government announced it is following through on a previous commitment to expand services by adding nine new specialist physician positions. One of the positions is for an anesthetist, although that doctor won’t be located in Cape Breton.

“It’s really feedback that came from the frontlines for what positions would be prioritized,” said Health and Wellness Minister Randy Delorey. “The goal is to enhance the service.”

Delorey said he was not aware of the incident in Cape Breton but that the province has “taken steps” to increase access to specialists, including making compensation better for doctors filling in on a temporary basis and creating new spaces at Dalhousie University’s medical school.

Physicians displeased with pay

The news of the new hires comes just as Doctors Nova Scotia released a new survey that found physicians in the province feel underpaid and underappreciated. Doctors Nova Scotia President Dr. Tim Holland said those reasons help to explain the shortage.

“They do love Nova Scotia and they do love their patients,” he said. “However, when facing frustrating with a health care system that doesn’t respond to them, doesn’t engage with them, physicians feel powerless.”

A 2015 report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information found that Nova Scotia doctors had lower gross clinical payments than doctors in any other province, averaging just over $250,000 per year. That was compared to the more than $350,000 on average doctors bill in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Prince Edward Island.

With reports from CTV Atlantic’s Bruce Frisko and Kyle Moore