This popped up in my Victoria (BC) subreddit dealing with BC Healthcare

[OnlinePoker]

I'll copy/paste the pertinent info and link the original post.

Interesting ad in today's TC (Victoria Times-Colonist newspaper)

On the second page (actually 4th but the first 2 are advertising supplements now), the following ad someone paid for (I will type it out as the electronic copy of the paper is pay walled).

WANTED: BC Licensed Medical
Doctor for Prescription Renewal
Urgent! Please?
We need a doctor's help to renew my
82 year old husband's prescriptions. We
will agree to any reasonable fee: Michael is
worth it...and we seem to have exhausted
all our options. Our wonderful family doctor
retired at Christmas. No walk-in clinics seem
to be available. Today even Telus Health
MyCare had no Dr. virtual appointments
available for months.

Janet Nadine Mort, PhD and Extended Family

Please email Michael directly at

And then it gives the email

https://www.reddit.com/r/VictoriaBC/comments/wbz157/interesting_ad_in_todays_tc/

[SergeStorms]

1. Seems a little screwy.

Their Doctor retired last December and they're just now looking for another Doctor? No Doctor is going to write prescriptions without seeing the patient first.

When a Doctor retires they usually arrange for a transfer of service to another Doctor beforehand. They don't leave patients high and dry.

Like I said, something sounds a little screwy here.

[OnlinePoker]

2. There are 100,000 people in the regional district (out of 400,000) that don't have a doctor

Many GPs are retiring without replacement. Even walk-in clinics are closing because they can't get staff to work in them. My wife and I want to move out of the region to someplace smaller, but the only thing keeping us here is we actually have a family doctor. Health care in BC is really in a bad state.

[SergeStorms]

3. Ahhhh....

didn't know that. We don't get much news in the States about the Canadian Healthcare system.
Sorry to hear about that. Are these providers leaving for other Provinces, or simply leaving the job market altogether?

[OnlinePoker]

4. Pretty much leaving altogether

Most provinces are in a similar predicament. I know in BC there was a push in the 90's to reign in health spending and, for some reason, one of the chosen methods was limiting the number of medical spaces at universities. Now the chickens are coming home to roost. I think the average age for a GP is in the high 50's now. Also, the funding model for patient visits isn't very much so doctors are going into specialties where they can make more money to actually pay off their student loans. GPs have to cram as many appointments into a day as possible just to make ends meet so patients are left feeling like their on an assembly line.

The federal government tries to recruit medical immigrants, but their qualifications often don't meet Canadian standards and they end up in substandard, non-medical jobs for years until they get qualified. The whole system is kind of a mess right now.