B.C. government touts primary care progress, U.S. recruitment efforts

B.C. Premier David Eby speaks during an announcement about the expansion of a program that assists internationally educated doctors in obtaining a licence to practice in the province, in Richmond, B.C., on Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022. (Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press)

In April 2022, nearly a million people in British Columbia had no family doctor. Now after a system overhaul, the NDP government says 77 per cent have a primary care provider.

“It takes pressure off of our emergency rooms,” Premier David Eby said Wednesday.

“It’s someone they can call, someone they can engage with on chronic health conditions and prevent a serious condition from getting worse, resulting in hospitalization.”

But the B.C. Conservatives were unimpressed with the new figures, especially given the older demographic of doctors working in B.C.

“We know that two in five physicians are going to be retiring over the next five years,” Opposition critic Brennan Day told reporters in Victoria on Wednesday.

“These numbers are not getting better and the government’s trying to hide that.”

The province is also providing an update on its multi-million dollar cross-border recruitment efforts.

Over the last year, 2,900 U.S. health professionals have applied. As of February, more than 500 have accepted job offers in B.C., according to the provincial government.

Dr. Victoria Wilkins is one of the physicians who made the move to British Columbia.

“I was in sort of the very first batch of people who got to apply and register through the new streamlined credentialing process that happened last May, and I am so grateful that that pathway opened up,” said the pediatrician.

By the province’s own admission job isn’t done.

The premier insists making sure everyone gets a primary care provider remains the goal.

Still, according to the latest figures, the government says B.C. has the most doctors per capita in the country.