Health region sues doctor over $144K loan, saying he left before agreed end date
Lawsuit says Dr. Kayvan Alamian Harandi agreed to work for 4 years in exchange for loan for training course
Manitoba's southwestern health region says a family doctor must repay $144,000 for a loan he was given in exchange for an agreement to work in two rural communities, alleging he left months before he was supposed to.
Prairie Mountain Health alleges Dr. Kayvan Alamian Harandi agreed to work at Shoal Lake-Strathclair Health Centre and Hamiota Health Centre until the end of March 2023, but stopped working there in September 2022, according to a statement of claim filed Dec. 1 in Manitoba Court of King's Bench.
The lawsuit says the health region and Harandi had a contract, with an October 2019 start date, under which he agreed to work as a general practitioner at the health centres until 2023.
In exchange, he would get a loan from the health region for a program that would allow him to become licensed to practise medicine in Manitoba, according to the lawsuit.
The statement of claim says that Harandi and the health region entered into a return of service agreement in which the health region agreed to pay him every two weeks while he was in the University of Manitoba's international medical graduate program — a one-year training course in which physicians get medical licensure to practise as family doctors by working in rural or underserved areas of the province.
Harandi would repay Prairie Mountain Health by working full-time for four years at the two health centres, located north of Brandon, the lawsuit says.
After that, the health region would forgive the loan, according to the lawsuit. It says if there was a default on the agreement, Harandi would be required to repay the loan, plus any interest.
Harandi started work at the centres in August 2019, the lawsuit says, but stopped in September 2022 — several months short of the agreed-upon end date.
He has refused to pay back the loan, the suit alleges.
It's seeking $144,385.60 in damages — $126,644.70 for the principal on the loan plus interest.
The allegations have not been proven in court, and no statement of defence has been filed.
Neither Harandi nor Prairie Mountain Health have responded to CBC's request for comment.