By Pam Wright
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Municipality of Chatham-Kent has entered the “Hunger Games” of physician recruitment in Ontario.
At its Dec. 9 meeting, council approved a lengthy multi-pronged motion brought forward by South Kent Coun. Anthony Ceccacci that will see Chatham-Kent up the ante to try and attract new doctors.
“The main goal of this is to try and get us in the game as a municipality,” Ceccacci told council as communities across the province are competing for new physicians through incentive programs.
“We’ve heard the numbers. We know how stark of a reality it is,” he said, noting there are more than 30,000 residents who are without a family doctor or nurse practitioner. “Anything at this point is better than nothing.”
West Kent Coun. Melissa Harrigan, who helped craft the motion, said the new incentives allow for transparency and the municipality can modify the program in the future if need be.
“This gives those who are working in primary care recruitment a really great base to work from, as Coun. Ceccacci said, to really get in the game and be competitive and also give a bit of runway,” she said, adding she wants new doctors currently training in Chatham-Kent to know they’re welcome in Chatham-Kent and that the community wants them to stay.
But on the flip side Chatham Coun. Brock McGregor said direct incentive programs are difficult to compete in.
“Unfortunately, we are not just competing against municipalities, but against the provincial government itself as well,” he said, noting the province offers incentives of $80,000 to $125,000 for doctors to practise in Northern Ontario, with some communities adding up to $80,000 more.
McGregor said it’s important to recognize C-K is competing in this game because new doctors are a limited resource.
“It’s been throttled by the provincial government after years and years and years of not training enough family doctors,” he said, as well as ineffective incentives.
“As a municipality, we can’t solve that problem,” he said, noting that even the president of the Ontario Medical Association said incentive programs are a “Hunger Games style of framing,” pitting communities against each other.
The approved motion will see the municipality draw $420,000 from strategic reserves to fund a primary care family physician incentive reserve of $140,000 annually for the remainder of the 2023-27 multi-year budget process, and that base funding be considered by the next council.
Also, funding for each new doctor joining a primary care organization or local health team can receive up to $25,000 in start-up cash. Such funds may also be made available to new doctors who operate outside of primary care organizations.
Earlier in the budget process, council approved funding to hire a full-time recruiter.
Ceccacci credited Harrigan with helping build the motion.
“It wouldn’t have happened without her,” he said, adding he likes to “give credit where credit is due.”
