(Image credit: CFJC Today/File photo).

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Law should be changed to allow cities to give cash to doctors

Sep 28, 2022 | 4:46 AM

RECRUITING DOCTORS is even harder than at first thought, according to a report to Kamloops City council yesterday.

Council asked staff in June to look into providing financial grants to physicians who might be interested in working in the Tournament Capital. No can do, says the report that came back — the Community Charter prohibits it because doctors are private businesses.

So, there are other ideas being worked on, such as permissive tax exemptions on clinics and expedited business licence applications and inspections. The report didn’t offer anything in the way of specific recommendations, though.

Other communities, meanwhile, have been charging ahead with various incentives. The City of Quesnel employs a full-time recruiter who offers accommodation and help in moving. There’s even a furnished apartment available for short-term stays while recruits are settling in.

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On Galiano Island, residents annually raise $70,000 to support their health clinic and keep their doctor.

It’s often repeated that one million British Columbians are without family doctors. Last week, dozens of specialist doctors sent a letter to Health Minister Adrian Dix warning that the system is deteriorating, and that people are getting sicker as they wait to see one of the diminishing number of specialists.

The problem is complex, and the answers certainly don’t all rest at the local level. But municipal governments and agencies aren’t helpless. Yesterday, quite a few ideas were suggested: forgiveness of residential taxes, free tourism packages, golf and ski packages, free boat moorage and so on.

Some of those things may be legal and some not, but all involve financial incentive, direct or indirect. It’s about money. So why doesn’t the provincial government change the Community Charter to make direct financial incentives for the attraction of doctors legal?

The province has already created a “stabilization” fund to help keep clinics afloat. Doctors aren’t plumbers or teachers or electricians — all honourable careers — but the health practitioner shortage is desperate.

It calls for exceptional measures.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.