Dr. James Burrows of Prince Edward Family Health Team gave an update regarding the family doctor shortage in the county on on Thursday.

At the council meeting, he explained that given the unexpected passing of Dr. Peter Johannsson earlier this month, as well as the planned departure of Dr. Laura Arul from practice at the end of this May, the impact will be significant on health care in the region:

It was not all bad news however, as County Docs, the physician recruitment and retention program, reported that it is still on track to bring aboard a one-year temporary replacement for a departed physician, along with a new full time permanent family doctor coming later this fall.

Burrows stressed that County Doc’s funding request for $250,000 from council will help to implement the program through the healthcare storm.

At the end of the presentation, Burrows highlighted some statistics concerning the current and future state of national family medical care:

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