Emergency rooms are closing down in Nova Scotia due to a shortage of doctors. Locals are worried that there will be no one to help them in a critical situation.
The emergency services department at All Saints Springhill Hospital is closed for most days of the week. The nearest hospital in Amherst can be reached by driving an additional 15–20 minutes. Sometimes, if you cannot get to Amherst, you need to go even further, to Sackville. Next time, it may cost someone their life. Locals say they hope for the best calling 911, but every day it just gets worse.
Daily announcements of the suspension of emergency services have become a common occurrence at Nova Scotia radio stations. These worrying gaps in first aid provision undermine the principle of universal access to medicine.
Dr. Tim Holland, a former president of Doctors Nova Scotia, says the problem goes far beyond the Atlantic provinces. He also stresses that emergency departments have become primary care centres for people who do not have access to other medical services. According to statistics, more than 50,000 Nova Scotia residents do not have a family physician.
As Dr. Holland points out, the worst is over as more doctors are being recruited in Nova Scotia and the government is spending more on emergency care. Last year, provincial authorities invested nearly C$40 million in increasing doctors’ salaries and introducing the technology needed to improve access to primary care.
And recently, the Nova Scotia Nominee Program (NSNP) has added a new stream specifically for physicians. General practitioners and family physicians (NOC 3112), as well as specialist physicians (NOC 3111) can now apply to Nova Scotia permanent residency within the Express Entry system.