Medical Society pleased contracts to be restored

The president of the P.E.I. Medical Society says she's pleased the province will rescind a request for doctors to stop working on contract.

But Rachel Kassner said it's regrettable the Province sent letters making the request in the first place.

"I think there's been a lot of ill feelings created with all of this that happened," Kassner told CBC News.

"There's going to be a lot of fence-mending that will have to be done."

The  province told the 24 doctors last month they would either have to start working on a fee-for-service basis or take a salaried position.

Kassner said some doctors have already made other plans as a result of the letters.

"Unfortunately, a lot of physicians have made alternate arrangements, already made plans to move their practices from maybe a government office or a clinic to a private facility," she said. "It's going to be a lot of work for people to change their plans or go through with something that they really did not have their heart into in the first place."

One doctor said he's leaving because of the change.

Souris doctor David Morgan announced this week he would close his practice after Health PEI told him he could no longer work on contract.

Morgan told CBC News Wednesday that restoring contracts wouldn't change his mind.

Morgan's announcement meant another 1,100 people on the patient registry will be looking for a doctor, bringing the total to close to 10,000.

Opposition leader Olive Crane said Thursday that the cancelled contracts meant Premier Robert Ghiz was a long way from fulfilling his promise of a doctor for every Islander, made in the 2007 election campaign.

On Thursday afternoon, the Department of Health and Wellness released a statement on the shortage of doctors on P.E.I.

"The recruitment and retention of physicians continues to be a priority for Government. We currently have the highest number of physicians practising on P.E.I. than ever before," said the statement.

"Over the past two years we have recruited 30 new physicians to the province, and we are in the process of working out the details to welcome an additional four physicians this fall."

"Government is committed to having a family doctor for every Islander. Health PEI has recently increased staffing with the patient registry, and they are working with our current family physicians to best match Islanders with an appropriate physician."

The province plans to send new letters Friday to restore the contracts.

Kassner hopes in the future Health PEI and government will discuss decisions with doctors before implementing them.