The provincial government — in unison with Doctors of BC — is providing a $118 million stabilization fund to family doctors in an effort to ensure patients continue to have access to primary care..Previously known as the British Columbia Medical Association, Doctors of BC is an organization representing 14,000 physicians, medical residents, and medical students across the province..Accompanied by the organization's president Dr. Ramneek Dosanjh, BC Health Minister Adrian Dix detailed the funding Wednesday, noting the move is part of an expansion pack of BC’s primary care strategy..“Ensuring British Columbians get the ongoing primary care they need means supporting BC’s family doctors in the ways that help them provide the quality care patients rely on,” said Dix..Highlighting rising operational costs affecting family doctor’s ability to provide patient care, Dix said the funding is a “key” supportive action while provincial officials work towards a long-term solution set to be detailed in the fall..The Ministry of Health is providing $75 million of the funding, and $43 million from the General Practices Services Committee — a collaboration committee co-chaired by the ministry and Doctors of BC..The funding will be dolled out over a four month period beginning on October 1 to help family doctors and clinics with operational business costs, and nearly 5,000 family doctors who either have their own practice or work at walk-in clinics are expected to receive funding, which represents more than 70% BC’s working family doctors..The BC College of Family Physicians says one million British Columbians are currently without a family doctor and remain unable to get one. A research poll released by the college in April shows 40% of those who do have a family doctor in BC are worried they will be lost to practice closure or retirement..“This is an important first step to help doctors keep their practices open for patients over a four-month period until we have a longer-term solution to the very real problems in primary care,” said Dosanjh Wednesday..“We want to ensure that everyone has a family doctor who can provide them with the quality care they need and deserve.”.Wednesday's new funding announcement comes three months after a meeting between Premier John Horgan and Doctors of BC — after which he confirmed privatization will not be considered, but rather he will “make it clear” to the federal government that it must “address the lack of federal funding in healthcare throughout the country.”.Horgan further highlighted there were 437,000 British Columbians unattached to a primary care practitioner in 2003, doubling to 897,000 by 2017..“The problem didn’t start yesterday,” he said at the time..Despite Horgan’s calls for Ottawa to increase healthcare transfers, no commitments have been made..READ MORE: BC emergency rooms close, ambulances increasingly unstaffed.READ MORE: Ashcroft man dies while waiting for ambulance to become available
