ATHABASCA – An Athabasca doctor says he will be cancelling all his upcoming appointments, until his Internet service provider can provide consistent, reliable access to the worldwide web, the lack of which has become a detriment to his practice.
Dr. Michael Smith hit his breaking point last Thursday.
“This morning was particularly bad. The Internet was fading in and out all the time. And it was really, really frustrating,” he said. “We're now almost 100 per cent dependent on the Internet … So, I’ve instructed my office manager to cancel all of my patients from (Aug. 16) and beyond.”
He clarified that he had already planned to take the week of Aug. 9 off. He also added the service provider has already sent a technician to the medical office, but found nothing wrong with the connection.
Asked if he would identify the service provider, he declined, but asked specifically if it was Telus, he responded, “Take a wild guess.”
“An acceptable solution would be that it's working well 100 per cent, all the time,” Smith said. “I would be prepared to accept if it went down maybe once or twice a month, and only for a few minutes each time, but beyond that … I'm in the healthcare business.”
Without Internet access, many of the things doctors need to provide proper care to their patients are unavailable. That afternoon (Aug. 5) Smith was unable to provide referrals, check lab work, or access the background information needed to care for his patients.
“It just goes on and on and on. In a day, I might use a computer 15 times or so. And the thing is that as I've gotten older, my patients have also gotten older, and they don't come in with one problem, they come with numerous problems, and because they have numerous problems; I'm slowed down anyway, and these problems slow me down even further,” said Smith, who recently passed the 50-year mark in his medical career.
He suggested patients contact MLA Glenn van Dijken, Health Minister Tyler Shandro, and the new Associate Minister for Rural Economic Development Nathan Horner to express their displeasure, and to continue to treat office staff with kindness and respect, as the situation is completely out of their hands.
“All I know is that I paid for my computers, I've paid for the system in the office, and I pay on a regular basis to get Internet service. I'm not getting value for my money,” he said. “This problem absolutely, positively must be sorted out.”
