Docs hope new deal will cure medical ills
Greg Middleton, Staff Reporter The Province

PRINCE GEORGE -- Doctors in Prince George hope their new $10-million deal will put a plug in the drain that has left the area with a critical shortage of physicians.

"We can now go shopping," said Dr. Michael Moran, head of the Northern Medical Association, which represents the area's nearly 200 physicians and surgeons.

Moran said he hopes the $10-million bonus package Prince-George-area doctors have negotiated will help them bring in some of the 25 specialists and several dozen family doctors needed to deal with what has become a crippling doctor shortage.

Moran estimated the deal would put an extra $30,000 to $40,000 in the pockets of family doctors and twice that into the pockets of specialists -- before expenses and taxes, of course.

The doctor drain has created backlogs of up to two years for treatment and surgery for non-life-threatening problems, even though doctors are sometimes working double and triple shifts, sometimes several times a week.

To put pressure on the government to address their concerns, specialists began resigning from Prince George Regional Hospital last Thursday. Nearly 40 doctors, from surgeons to pediatricians, had resigned their hospital privileges. As a result, 121 operations were cancelled and 21 cases were shipped out to other hospitals.

The area's approximately 65 full- and part-time general practitioners were set to resign today.

Now that an agreement has been reached, hospital operating rooms could be up and running again as soon as today.

Moran said he will probably be in the operating room on Monday.

It took a marathon session that lasted into the early hours of yesterday morning to iron out problems in the wording of the proposal.

B.C. Health Minister Mike Farnsworth put another $1 million on the table to sweeten the deal, but doctors balked at contract language that would have them guaranteeing that specialists -- no matter how many there were -- would be on call 24 hours a day.

Moran said phone calls were going back and forth as both sides pencilled in changes to the plan.

It was crucial to get the deal signed so it could be offered to medical school graduating classes across Canada by June 30, when new doctors start making deals to go to work.

More than 7,000 people packed the Prince George arena last night to applaud Dr. Moran.

He got a standing ovation for spear- heading the drive to get an agreement with the government.

"It's been a tough fight," Moran said, wiping away tears. "It was the voice of the people that got their attention, not the doctors."