Swan Hills residents are relieved the northwest Alberta town has a doctor again.

"We need to have a doctor here," former mayor Pam Marriotte said. "We don't need a Royal Alex hospital. We need an emergency and a stabilization and a daily clinic and this is what having this replacement doctor for now has given us back."

Residents were upset earlier this month when their local physician wasn't replaced when he left for a six-week honeymoon.

Alberta Health Services set up a telehealth system with five doctors in Edmonton for patients in Swan Hills who needed to talk to a doctor. It also staffed the emergency department at the local health centre with nurses and paramedics.

"Telehealth has a place when maybe you have a nurse practitioner who can then tell you how that patient is physically because they can't see if they're clammy, if they're going into shock," Marriotte said.

"I didn't think it was acceptable and neither did most people."

An AHS representative apologized at a recent public meeting for some of the confusion surrounding the situation.

A doctor from Edmonton has now agreed to provide services in Swan Hills on weekdays until the local physician returns on Aug. 12th.