P.E.I. losing child and adolescent psychiatrist
Health PEI is working to recruit a replacement but in the meantime will offer telepsychiatry
P.E.I. will soon be losing one of its child and adolescent psychiatrists.
Dr. Anita Taj was hired last year for a one-year locum position at the Richmond Centre in Charlottetown.
That year-long contract ends next month, and in a writen statement Health PEI said Dr. Taj has decided not to continue on with the practice. Her last day of service will be in mid-February.
Working to recruit replacement
The province said it is working to recruit a permanent full-time replacement.
In the meantime, the province plans to offer telepsychiatry, where doctors and patients communicate by video-conferencing.
The province said it is in the "final stages" of hiring a Halifax doctor for that interim telepsychiatry position.
Child and adolescent telepsychiatry is already offered at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by Dr. Kizilbash, Health PEI said.
P.E.I. has a complement of 15 full-time psychiatrists. Health PEI said in an email to CBC that with Dr. Taj, 14.25 positions had been filled. That will drop to 13.25 when she leaves. A doctor with a part-time position is on maternity leave until later this fall.
Health PEI said it has recruited two full-time permanent psychiatrists to begin practising on P.E.I. this summer, one in July and one in August. Several locums are also working throughout the year, officials said.
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With files from Sarah MacMillan