By Canadian Press

$118M to support B.C. family doctors, keep clinics open until new pay model: Dix

Aug 24, 2022 | 3:25 PM

VANCOUVER — Health Minister Adrian Dix says family doctors in British Columbia will be eligible for an average $25,000 each to help tide them over until a new compensation model is established this fall. 

Dix says the intention of the one-time funding is to keep clinics open and give family doctors financial relief amid rising operational costs. 

British Columbia is experiencing a crisis in access to health care and nearly one million residents do not have a family doctor. 

The total $118 million in funding is available to about 3,480 family doctors who have their own practices and 1,100 working in walk-in clinics.

Dr. Ramneek Dosanjh, president of Doctors of BC, says operational costs have risen to eat up an average 30 to 40 per cent of a family doctor’s income, which incentivizes them to leave the practice.

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She says the funding will help “stop the bleeding” and keep clinic doors open until a much-needed new pay model is revealed this fall.

“We’ve heard loud and clear from our doctors that this is a much-needed step and we can’t allow clinic closures to continue at the rate they have been,” Dosanjh says. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 24, 2022.

The Canadian Press