Tories vow to add doctors
East Calgary Health Centre opens during shortage
By Jason Fekete, Calgary Herald September 28, 2010 Comments (3)
•Story•Photos ( 1 )•Video ( 1 )
Ken Hughes, Chair, Alberta Health Services Board (left), Ed Stelmach, Premier of Alberta, artist Damon Dessler-Herron, 7, Gene Zwozdesky, Minister of Health and Wellness and Ray Danyluk, Minister of Infrastructure all hold prints of a picture drawn by the youth. Alberta Health Services officially opened the East Calgary Health Centre on September 27, 2010. The new centre brings together numerous health services under one roof to promote community-based care.Photograph by: Lorraine Hjalte, Calgary HeraldThe Stelmach government wants to recruit more physicians and increase the number of medical residency spots in Alberta to address a doctor shortage that's hurting communities and posing staffing pains at some facilities.

Ballooning health-care and construction costs in recent years also have forced the government and Alberta Health Services to either mothball or "shell in" sections of new and expanded health facilities because there's not enough dollars to operate them -- something the province calls its "safe-and-warm process."

The challenge of finding dollars and doctors is being felt at the South Calgary Health Campus, the $1.4-billion facility under construction on the city's southeast edge. Phase 1 of the 228-bed hospital is slated to open in 2012.

Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky said Monday that parts of the province continue to struggle with doctor shortages, especially rural areas, and that government must do more to attract physicians.

"There are some issues that we have to address . . . with respect to the way that doctors are being recruited here and how aggressively they're being recruited," Zwozdesky told reporters Monday at the official opening of the $10.6-million East Calgary Health Centre, a facility offering more than 30 clinics and programs.

"Our overwhelming problem right now, I think, is residency spots," he noted.

"I would really like to put a lot more emphasis on the residency programs."

There are 1,373 physician residency spots available in Alberta in 2010, but the number of students accepted to the province's two medical schools actually decreased this year.

This fall, the University of Calgary faculty of medicine admitted 170 students, down from 180 the year before, while the University of Alberta also trimmed spots.

"It's just no vision, no planning," Wildrose Alliance health critic Heather Forsyth said about the government's challenges finding doctors and staffing facilities. "I just shake my head."

Premier Ed Stelmach vowed Monday his government would continue on a "very aggressive path of training more doctors and nurses."

A few years ago, his government promised to increase by 2012 the number of physician graduates to 295 from 227, registered nursing grads to 2,000 from 1,375 and licensed practical nurses to 1,000 from 559. Last year, the province's postsecondary schools graduated 249 physicians, 1,519 registered nurses and 587 LPNs.

But even if the province attracts more medical professionals, there's no guarantee the government will be able to fully staff its health facilities.

Costly additions to the Rockyview and Peter Lougheed hospitals in Calgary over the past few years created no additional beds in the system because Alberta Health Services couldn't afford to staff both the old wards and new wings.

David Eggen with Friends of Medicare said the government is always trying to look busy on the health-care file but is not properly managing or funding the daily operations to ensure a smooth system.

"They love to cut ribbons but not put the people inside that actually make the facility function," Eggen said.

jfekete@calgaryherald.com

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