Health Minister Adrian Dix says family doctors in B-C will be eligible for an average $25,000 each to help tide them over until a new compensation model is established this fall. Dix says the intention of the one-time funding is to keep clinics open and give family doctors financial relief amid rising operational costs. B-C is experiencing a crisis in access to health care and nearly one million residents do not have a family doctor. The total $118 million in funding is available to about 3,480 family doctors who have their own practices and 1,100 working in walk-in clinics. Dr. Ramneek Dosanjh, president of Doctors of BC, says operational costs have risen to eat up an average 30 to 40 per cent of a family doctor’s income, which incentivizes them to leave the practice. She says the funding will help “stop the bleeding” and keep clinic doors open until a much-needed new pay model is revealed this fall.
