Report Inaccurate: Northern Medical Services

Report Inaccurate: Northern Medical Services

Monday, January 24, 2011 at 14:07

The Director of Northern Medical Health Services says the numbers in a recent Conference Board of Canada were not accurate.

Dr. Veronica McKinney agrees there is a shortage of doctors in northern Saskatchewan, but she says there are more doctors than portrayed in a study released last week.

The study said there were 10 doctors in northern Saskatchewan in 2006, pegging it as the region with the worst shortage of doctors.

But McKinney says there were 21 in 2006 and says there are currently 23.

However, McKinney says the issue is bigger than comparing doctor shortages in the north to the south.

McKinney says the North is a much different population than the south, where health care providers face more more complex issues such as lack transportation, isolation, poverty, loss of culture and inadequate housing, all of which McKinney says need to be taken into consideration when comparing the two regions.