Dear editor,
When I read your May 11th issue I read about how the government is trying to lure doctors and nurses back to B.C., and noticed they missed the real issue.
As a former RN I can attest to the constant trimming the government and Vancouver Island Health Authority (now Island Health) did to our system for years and years. I don’t know how government expects doctors to continue here without a pay raise in more than a decade.
Both doctors and nurses generally leave school owing a substantial amount of money then they have to set up clinics and staff, the overhead is overwhelming and just doesn’t pay. That’s why so many walk-in clinics were the way to go.
The government hasn’t got the message so they are leaving and it’s been happening for years. Medical school and student enrolment is only a small part, the major part being pay. Nursing programs went from a two-year program to a four-year BSN being mandatory. That’s two extra years of student loans. How can doctors make a clinic work at $30 per patient? Impossible.
Now the government wants to lower our standards by allowing them to circumvent many of the hurdles in place to ensure said standard to allow foreign workers to come here.
The article was nothing more than a smoke screen to give the impression the government is dealing with the problem. The cost of living has skyrocketed with again no raise. I don’t know how anyone is expected to make a go of it. Try and imagine how much it cost to set up a clinic and staff doctors, nurses and equipment on top of a mountain of debt?
I don’t blame them for leaving.
Debbie Peck,
Courtenay