BOYLE – The Village of Boyle is going to be down one doctor for the next little while as long-time community doctor Marthinus Doman is planning to return home to South Africa at the end of June.
At council’s May 5 regular meeting, mayor Colin Derko took the opportunity to address rumblings in the community that Dr. Doman was leaving the area after 17 years practicing medicine in Boyle.
“Dr. Doman has sold his house; he is moving back home. This probably would have happened a long time ago if it was not for COVID. So, it’s coming closer, he’s going to be leaving at the end of June. Again, it depends on COVID if he can fly or not, but his house is sold,” Derko told councillors.
The doctor who is intended to replace him however, must first complete a three-month practicum and work under another Albertan doctor before he comes on board in Boyle, but that practicum cannot be in the community the doctor plans to practice in, Derko added.
The three other doctors that practice in the community are also from South Africa, and spend several months away at a time, and now, with COVID, and the myriad of additional rules that come with international air travel, some are finding it difficult to make their way back to Canada once they’ve left.
For instance, said Derko, one cannot fly from South Africa to the Netherlands, but you can fly from South Africa to France, then to the Netherlands and on to Canada. So, there are additional challenges coming about as a result of the pandemic.
The workload doctors experience when they come to a small town like Boyle makes for another challenge. Derko shared a piece of a recent conversation he had with Dr. Doman.
“In his 17 years on call, and doing what he’s done, he said in a town like Athabasca, it would compute to about 47 or 48 years of time because they’re very busy here — they’re in our hospitals, they’re down at the clinic — they are very busy doctors so he said it’s good and bad,” Derko said.
For some, that is exactly what they’re looking for, while others prefer a slower pace. Coun. Barb Smith questioned why the village wasn’t being more proactive in recruiting doctors.
“Why aren’t we trying to recruit and have more than two doctors in town? They are busy, it warrants having that, why wouldn’t we pursue, two or three additional doctors?” she asked, noting the Boyle Healthcare Centre serves a large area and people know they can get in relatively quickly.
“I don’t understand why we’re not trying to get more than just the one clinic.”
She also expressed some concern that doctors are being pushed to their limits with the amount of work they are expected to complete while on call, and more of an effort should be made to make sure they have time for family and a personal life.
Derko agreed to an extent, but also mentioned that some like the heavy work schedule and could be put off if asked to take down time. He also said they should be focusing on making sure the community has doctors before anything else.
“At this point, our discussion needs to be, I think, about making sure that we have doctors, not making sure that we’ve got extra doctors kind of thing,” he said.
