Staff shortages plaguing Saskatchewan’s health care system
Global News
The province said last week it will be sending people to Alberta to get privatized surgeries, but the cost of travel won't be covered.
Saskatchewan’s health-care system is at a critical crossroads, experts say.
“I think my hours are up probably 10 to 20 per cent this year over last year,” says Dr. Adam Ogieglo, a family doctor at Lakeside Medical Clinic. “So I’ve been working that much more.”
Dr. Ogieglo says he contracted COVID-19 about three weeks ago, and it has since slowly rolled through his household. He and his family had planned to vacation down to the United States during that time, but now he’s spending it working due to being short staffed of doctor’s in similar situations.
“A sense of frustration that we’re just sort of saying, ‘Oh well, this is the way it’s going to be.’ We’re all going to be working short-staffed, and are going to be sick more often, and just really sort of letting COVID rip is kind of the approach we’re taking,” Ogieglo said.
“I just wish we maybe had a higher-level discussion and maybe decide to take a different path.”
Saskatchewan is dealing with a backlog of surgeries largely due to the pandemic. Last week the area department lead of surgery in Saskatoon, Dr. Bill Dust, said the province is facing a nursing and anesthesiologist shortage, and it isn’t helping.
“We do have advertisements in place, and we are interviewing for anesthesiologists who need to be recruited, especially outside of the tertiary care centres, the larger centres such as Regina and Saskatoon,” says Dr. Mateen Raazi, the provincial head for anesthesiology for the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) and University of Saskatchewan.