Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
Primary Health Care Team
Underserviced Area Program
159 Cedar Street, Suite 402
Sudbury  ON  P3E 6A5

Dear Minister Caplan,

    

Stop putting the citizen's of the province health care at risk. Six years ago the McGuinty Liberals promised to recruit and train more doctors. Why are you now making it even harder for communities to recruit the physicians they need?

According to the Sarnia-Lambton Physician Recruitment Task Force approximately 30,000 residents of Sarnia-Lambton do not have a family doctor.  Sarnia-Lambton currently needs 21 Doctors to be considered fully serviced.

            Residents in our community without a family doctor continue to seek out the services they need at our hospital's Emergency Departments which are increasingly overburdened. Access to a family physician is crucial for those in need of ongoing regular care because of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

            If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure then give underserviced communities like Sarnia-Lambton the resources it needs to recruit enough family doctors for its residents. Do not exclude Sarnia-Lambton from access to Underserviced Area Program funding.

Sincerely,

cc        Bob Bailey, MPP  bob.baileyco@pc.ola.org

Note: The government is reviewing Ontario's Underserviced Area Program (UAP). Deadline for comments is August 28, 2009.